Is CCD more urgent a threat than CC?

[Deep Sea Isopod]

Colony Collapse Disorder is a more urgent threat to the planet than Climate Change.
That is the claim of some entomologists, including Dr George McGavin.

http://livebettermagazine.com/eng/magaz ... uJuV330BC3

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that if bees disappear, humans will have only 4 years to live.

I think this will make for a good discussion.
Of course, there is a link between them both, but should we be looking at saving the bees as a major part in the fight against global warming?
Should we be worrying more about pesticides than CO2 emmisions?
Polar bears or Bees?




(Last year, while making a delivery to a leisure center, I was stood in the middle of a bed of Lavender, and there were hundreds of bumble bees all around me going about their business. I was totally awed by them. They were all around me! I love them big hairy Bumble bees. (Bumblebees are lesser known as Dumbledore's where I was born. Apparently it's the old Anglo-Saxon name for them))

[Reverend Blair]

Colony collapse is a major concern. The world would be pretty hungry without the bees. I don't think it's a more serious issue than climate change, being at least partially a symptom of that change, but I do think the threat is more immediate.

I personally doubt any real action will be taken any time soon though. We're dragging our feet on global warming to a huge extent, and I highly doubt the agricultural industry is going to back off everything from GM crops to chemical use, and they wield a huge amount of political power.

There's also almost no interest in the subject from the public. Part of that is because our media is too busy writing tripe to bother with real issues, especially complex ones. The few stories I've seen on it haven't looked too deeply into the subject.

I've been considering building a beehive for a writing how-to project, thinking it might interest some of these suburban types, but the idea has been shot down by three separate publications, so I've exhausted my list of clients who might publish such a thing. There's a couple of other places I can try, but if my regulars don't want it, the chances are pretty slim from the others. I'm also unsure if generating an interest in amateur bee-keeping is a good idea, as it might only serve to help spread the diseases.

BTW, a beeless (sort of) world is the basic premise of Douglas Coupland's "Generation A." It doesn't deal with the actual subject much besides making a lack of bees central to the plot, but it's a pretty good read anyway.

[RuleBritannia]

There's a good talk on Fora about this: Here.

[Rum]

More evidence.

Let's face it, were fucked.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

More evidence.

Let's face it, were fucked.

Ole Willie Waggledagger predicted this.

"2 bees, then not 2 bees."

The end is nigh!!!