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Author Topic: Protect pollinators  (Read 1472 times)

Mackin USA

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Protect pollinators
« on: June 17, 2019, 11:23:07 AM »
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Mr. Mackin

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2019, 03:19:15 PM »
Quote
factors including industrialization, insecticides, herbicides, parasites, disease, and climate change.

I have to say, this is one of the pieces that drives me insane when people say that people who are against GMO crops are "anti-science" and then they go on with all sorts of quotes from scientists to say that eating GMO crops is not healthy.

To which I respond, I never said it was unhealthy TO ME just because it is genetically modified. It's the fact that GMOs enable farmers to use more and stronger herbicides and mounting evidence shows that this is a contributing factor (not the only one obviously) to the collapse of insect populations. We're gonna miss 'em when they're gone.
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littleman

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2019, 09:04:49 PM »
That's the problem with nuanced opinions Ergo.

Side note: ZeroHedge seems to want to make every American hide in their basement with a shotgun.
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ergophobe

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2019, 02:23:53 AM »
Quote from: littleman on June 17, 2019, 09:04:49 PM
Side note: ZeroHedge seems to want to make every American hide in their basement with a shotgun.

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Bloomberg quoted former website staffer Colin Lokey as saying: "I can't be a 24-hour cheerleader for Hezbollah, Moscow, Tehran, Beijing, and Trump anymore. It's wrong. Period. I know it gets you views now, but it will kill your brand over the long run. This isn't a revolution. It's a joke."[9] Lokey told Bloomberg that he was pressured to frame issues in a way he felt was "disingenuous," summarizing its political stances as "Russia=good. Obama=idiot. Bashar al-Assad=benevolent leader. John Kerry=dunce. Vladimir Putin=greatest leader in the history of statecraft."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge#Non-financial_views
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nffc

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2019, 03:52:37 PM »
>"Russia=good. Obama=idiot. Bashar al-Assad=benevolent leader. John Kerry=dunce. Vladimir Putin=greatest leader in the history of statecraft."

To be fair you good make a very good argument for at least the majority of those. Just sayin.

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rcjordan

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2019, 08:15:30 PM »
US beekeepers lost 40% of honeybee colonies over past year, survey finds  | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/19/us-beekeepers-lost-40-of-honeybee-colonies-over-past-year-survey-finds
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Mackin USA

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2019, 10:23:09 AM »
TY, RC
"Researchers said the numbers were concerning given the intensive efforts to stem the loss of honeybees, which pollinate an estimated $15bn in US crops each year, enabling the farming of foods including apples, melons, cherries, almonds and blueberries."
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Mr. Mackin

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2019, 04:16:12 PM »
Quote from: rcjordan on June 19, 2019, 08:15:30 PM
US beekeepers lost 40% of honeybee colonies over past year,

Haven't we been seeing that basic headline for years now?

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Beekeepers can tolerate up to 15% losses of colonies over winter, but the US is massively above this threshold, having lost 28.1% of colonies over the 2015-16 winter.
http://theconversation.com/ten-years-after-the-crisis-what-is-happening-to-the-worlds-bees-77164
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ergophobe

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #8 on: June 20, 2019, 04:20:08 PM »

2017, looking good

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Honeybee colonies increase after years of decline
Environmental groups have expressed alarm about the more than the 90 percent decline during the past two decades in the population of pollinators, including wild bees and monarch butterflies. Pesticide manufacturers argue that their products contribute in a very minor way to the population trend.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/honeybee-colonies-increase-after-years-of-decline/2017/08/02/fc79eea6-73ba-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html

2019, not so much
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Last Winter's Bee Colony Death Rate Is Highest Reported Yet
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/06/19/733761393/more-bad-buzz-for-bees-record-numbers-of-honey-bee-colonies-died-last-winter

Second link it same store as above RCs, just emphasizing that it is the highest death rate ever recorded.


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rcjordan

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2019, 04:40:14 PM »
>years now

Yes, but the losses jumped to the highest yet, as you've mentioned.
 
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Overall, 40% of colonies died off over the entire year to April, which is above the 38% average since the survey began.

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It’s disconcerting that we’re still seeing elevated losses after over a decade of survey and quite intense work to try to understand and reduce colony loss
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ergophobe

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Re: Protect pollinators
« Reply #10 on: June 20, 2019, 06:12:42 PM »
>>It’s disconcerting that we’re still seeing elevated losses after over a decade of survey

This. This is the scary part
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