Summary
The U.S. beekeeping industry is experiencing unprecedented losses, with hundreds of millions of bees dying over the past eight months.
Blake Shook, a leading beekeeper, called it “the worst bee loss in recorded history.”
Researchers remain uncertain about the cause, pointing to potential factors like habitat changes and weather patterns.
Beekeeping operations are struggling to survive, raising concerns about food security and the sustainability of crop production.
We are the extinction event
Had quite a few arguments with climate change trivialising friends/relatives. The classic “the climate is always changing” and “earth has been warmer”… The one point that seems to stop at least some in their tracks was this:
You know I studied geosciences? Do you know what we call the periods in earths history where climate was changing as fast as it currently does? We call them global catastrophes and extinction events!
Yup. The wealthy have us fighting culture wars while they strip the planet.
I have come to the same conclusion. The realization comes with lots of fear and anxiety, but also a bit of peace. The earth has gone through many mass extinction events and recovered, so hopefully it will do the same after this. It is interesting that this extinction event is caused in part by a species living on it that can see what is going on, had opportunities to prevent/mitigate it, and chose not to.