America and the Tiny Apocalypse

When I write this blog, I am often sarcastic. I write, at times, in  a tongue in cheek fashion, exaggerating for effect. This is none of that. I am dead serious. I am going to do a series of posts that should scare you senseless. I am going to tell of the coming Apocalypse. No, not the one written of by John of Patmos. this is a tiny apocalypse. No, this does not involve Iran and Israel, Not Russia or China or N. Korea. Not Islamic terrorist. Well, on second thought, it does, but only as a side result.

America has just placed a species of honeybee on the endangered list. For years we have been told that bee populations have been declining. Not just wild bees, bit also those commercially raised.

For those who gave forgotten their high school science classes (I don't have kids; do they even teach science these days), bees pollinate flowers. Flowers produce fruit and seeds, which we, and many other of life's creatures, eat. We also eat the leaves of those plants and, without those seeds, no more new plants.

You see, I hope, the problem. Bees are dying off at an ever increasing rate. They are not all gone yet, that will take time, but not a lot. Why? Good question.

It seems that they are dying from a combination of 3 factors. One, natural parasites.Two, pesticide uses. Three, lack of proper habitat.

There are other pollinators, bats, some birds, butterflies and moths, and some types of flies. The thing is, most pollinators tend to stick to just a few types of plants. A hummingbird may not, and for reasons due to their physical shape, feed on the same plants that a bee does. A fly may not be attracted to a flower that a moth would make a meal from.

Also, these creatures are having their own issues. You still see hummingbirds, but not in the number you used to. Many moths and butterflies, such as the magnificent  Monarch, are threatened. And, truthfully, how many bats have you seen recently? (besides, the flowers that bats, and not all are nectar feeders, tend to are very limited.

So, as you see, we have ourselves a spot of bother, here. It can, and quite likely will, get worse before it gets better. In fact, it may just get worse and net better at all. Next time, we will look at the implications of the looming crisis and trust me, they are worse than you might imagine.