the constant skeptic

Well readers, it appears that the honey bee is not as important as we think to the continued existence of humanity as we know it…. and I do apologize for the earlier fear mongering, but bee extinction as the cause of an apocalypse was too good to resist.

I still am worried about Einstein’s prediction that humans would disappear four years after bees did.

taken from the orginal here: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/aug/02/bee_or_not_bee/

Before Europeans brought honeybees to the New World, all plants were successfully pollinated by native insects,” he says. “The honeybee (hive bee) Apis mellifera is not a native bee to the United States. There are many native Kansas insects, mostly different species of native bees that pollinate native Kansas plants.”

So why all the commotion over the little non-native honeybee? Because they provide $14.6 billion dollars worth of free labor each year when they pollinate our gardens, orchards and crops. The U.S. Senate is even getting into the act, passing two bills this year: The Pollinator Protection Act of 2007 and The Pollinator Habitat Protection Act of 2007. The primary fear driving these bills is that one-third of the U.S. food supply might be in danger of substantial losses if honeybees don’t perform at their current rate.