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  #1   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 05:46
Demi's Avatar
Demi Demi is offline
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Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160 Female 5'10"
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Location: UK
Default 'Like sending bees to war': the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession

'Like sending bees to war': the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...monds-hives-aoe

Quote:
A recent survey of commercial beekeepers showed that 50 billion bees – more than seven times the world’s human population – were wiped out in a few months during winter 2018-19. This is more than one-third of commercial US bee colonies, the highest number since the annual survey started in the mid-2000s.

Beekeepers attributed the high mortality rate to pesticide exposure, diseases from parasites and habitat loss. However, environmentalists and organic beekeepers maintain that the real culprit is something more systemic: America’s reliance on industrial agriculture methods, especially those used by the almond industry, which demands a large-scale mechanization of one of nature’s most delicate natural processes.

Honeybees thrive in a biodiverse landscape. But California’s almond industry places them in a monoculture where growers expect the bees to be predictably productive year after year.

Commercial honeybees are considered livestock by the US Department of Agriculture because of the creature’s vital role in food production. But no other class of livestock comes close to the scorched-earth circumstances that commercial honey bees face. More bees die every year in the US than all other fish and animals raised for slaughter combined.

“The high mortality rate creates a sad business model for beekeepers,” says Nate Donley, a senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s like sending the bees to war. Many don’t come back.”
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  #2   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 06:13
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WereBear WereBear is offline
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
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The mad obsession with profit IS killing all of us.

RISE UP.
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  #3   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 07:31
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bkloots bkloots is offline
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Plan: LC--Atkins
Stats: 195/162/150 Female 62in
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Location: Kansas City, MO
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Monoculture. It destroys wherever it happens.

Palm Oil tree plantations. Avocado plantations. Almond orchards. And, reaching back into history, corn and wheat and soy fields replacing prairie. This is evolution driven by human ingenuity. Not likely to stop.
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  #4   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 07:40
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cotonpal cotonpal is offline
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Plan: very low carb real food
Stats: 245/125/135 Female 62
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bkloots
Monoculture. It destroys wherever it happens.

Palm Oil tree plantations. Avocado plantations. Almond orchards. And, reaching back into history, corn and wheat and soy fields replacing prairie. This is evolution driven by human ingenuity. Not likely to stop.


Maybe not human ingenuity as much as human stupidity.
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  #5   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 13:14
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GRB5111 GRB5111 is offline
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Plan: Very LC, Higher Protein
Stats: 227/186/185 Male 6' 0"
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Location: Herndon, VA
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Reminds me of the series, "Goliath" season 3. More than just water diversion attributed to almond growers in this case.
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  #6   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 13:21
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Nancy LC Nancy LC is offline
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Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67
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Location: San Diego, CA
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I've joined a native plant society for my area, California, and I'm trying to plant the species that our hummingbirds, bees and butterflies require. Oddly, some of our native bees aren't bees that live in hives.

My property isn't huge, but at least I can provide them with some stuff they need. This is starting to catch on.
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  #7   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 20:37
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Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline
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Plan: atkins, carnivore 2023
Stats: 200/211/163 Female 5'8"
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Quote:
Honeybees thrive in a biodiverse landscape.


monoculture is the driving management system in the US. Pick a crop. Its monoculture.

Diversity better feeds the bees and insects that pollinate. Honeybees are not the only pollinators.
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  #8   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 20:42
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Dodger Dodger is offline
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Plan: Paleoish/Keto
Stats: 225/167/175 Male 71.5 inches
BF:18%
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Location: Longmont, Colorado
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms Arielle
monoculture is the driving management system in the US. Pick a crop. Its monoculture.

Diversity better feeds the bees and insects that pollinate. Honeybees are not the only pollinators.

Monoculture is also bad for the soil.
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  #9   ^
Old Wed, Jan-08-20, 21:18
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Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline
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Plan: atkins, carnivore 2023
Stats: 200/211/163 Female 5'8"
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Progress: -30%
Location: Massachusetts
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Bad for farmers, too. They are exposed to too many pesticides.

Average age of a farmer is about 60...farmers are a dying breed in the US.

Been watching a few youtube videos of Joel Saladin. He gets visits from Senators and governors....who are then visited by lobbyists.

I love his idea of everyone having two chickens instead of a dog. lol

Hoping to get mason bee housing up this spring.
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  #10   ^
Old Thu, Jan-09-20, 07:19
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bkloots bkloots is offline
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Plan: LC--Atkins
Stats: 195/162/150 Female 62in
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Location: Kansas City, MO
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DH built and kept a couple of beehives to help out a local urban farm. It's quite a commitment. I remember reading that honeybees are not native to North America. So, the bees themselves are part of an evolving ecology that no one can predict.
Quote:
Maybe not human ingenuity as much as human stupidity.
Perhaps, in the ages before science and technology began to show us a worldwide pattern. I'm entirely in favor of conservation efforts of all kinds. However, the unintended, or unpredictable, consequences of any human activity have escalated beyond control, as they always were.

"You can't fool Mother Nature!" Truest advertising slogan ever!
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  #11   ^
Old Thu, Jan-09-20, 09:09
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Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline
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Plan: atkins, carnivore 2023
Stats: 200/211/163 Female 5'8"
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Location: Massachusetts
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My sparrows are here to stay. They were brought in to break up manure piles and boy they are masters at it.

Potatoes brought frim Europe to North America.
Domestic turkey brought from Europe.
Chicken brought from Europe.

Most fruit trees came from Europe and China.

We grow what arriving immigrants brought with them.

And they brought honey bees too.

Honeybee hive collapse is relatively new in the history of honeybees.

There is lots we can do to help the bees. Stop using pesticides in our gardens. Lots of more natural methods and much cheaper.

I allow a few tomato catapillers to survive. Especially if already laden with white wasp eggs. Its a circle if life. To have the predatory wasps, the tomato horn worm is a necessary evil. Its about limited numbers. Last year only about ten catapillars counted.....and nearly all with white eggs attached. No significant damage to the hundreds if tomato plants.

I pick off potato beetles by hand and crush eggs. Spinosad is said to be effective, but Ive not needed it yet.

Planted marigolds all thru the veg garden as pest management.

It comes down to integrated pest management, many varieties of companion plants and avoiding moniculture.

More like the family gardens of the past.
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  #12   ^
Old Fri, Jan-10-20, 02:31
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WereBear WereBear is offline
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
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Location: USA
Default

I grew roses organically. You do similar tactics as Ms Arielle describes. Every plant had garlic at their feet, alyssum as a ground cover, sharing space with lavender, places for bugs to hide and shrubs and birdbaths for birds.

Everyone said "Japanese beetles will eat them." When the beetle hatch came, my place was covered with birds. Who happily ate them.

My roses smelled better than anyone else's.
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