Directions by bee

The details of how bees communicate directions to pollen sources is frickin' amazing.

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An update on the bees...

The New York Times has an update on what we've learned about colony collapse disorder, the problem that's been affecting honey bees and the agricultural industry since 2006. Read it here.

NPR blitz

I heard quite a few interesting stories on NPR yesterday so I'll post them all here.

On Fresh Air, Uwe Reinhardt made the observation that Americans display a lot of cognitive dissonance when it comes to healthcare. Basically, we don't want the government to force us to buy health insurance, but we expect to get medical treatment if we're hurt in an accident but are uninsured. We resist the idea as a society, we're all in this together. And we want every pill and every test and we want them now, but we want them to cost less.

On All Things Considered, Gillian Tett, an assistant editor for the Financial Times, used a great metaphor for all of the toxic mortgage assets that have hobbled our banking system. She talked about how mortgages were cut up like various meats (of varying quality) and stuffed into nice pretty sausages. The problem is, no one knows what's in each sausage, and because no one knows, everyone is afraid to buy them. Banks are stuck with all of these mortgage-backed assets, and no one knows what they are really worth because everyone is cared to take a bite.

ATC also reported on smog--specifically, the ozone in smog--and how chronic exposure appears to increase your chances of dying of respiratory disease by 30%. You can also see a map showing the worst U.S. cities for smog here. Las Vegas is in that category, unfortunately.

And finally, ATC had a segment on the fungus that has been killing bats in upstate New York. The disease has now spread to a number of other states. Like bees, bats are responsible for pollinating a lot of plants, including some crops. To me it's more evidence that the natural world around us is under a great deal of stress, and this ecosystem is the only one we've got.

The latest on honeybees

Honeybees are responsible for pollinating the plants that make up a third of our food supply. They've been disappearing from hives in the U.S. for the last couple of years; similar die-offs are now being reported worldwide.

NewScientist reports on the latest research which suggests that the losses aren't due to any single factor. Bees on every continent except Australia are now infected with the varroa mite which originated in Siberia, and this parasite likely makes them more susceptible to other factors like agricultural chemicals.

Increasing use of herbicides has resulted in fewer weeds in some areas, and one man's weed is some bee's dinner. A variety of types of pollen provides bees with a well-balanced diet, so being limited to collecting pollen from fewer plant species may cause them to miss out on critical nutrients.

Finally, there's concern that in our effort to breed docile bees that produce a lot of honey we've lost other traits that contributed to their robustness.

Paranoia: not just for people anymore

Bumblebees become more cautious after a brush with death.

Bees continue to disappear

So far this year, a big portion of the bees used commercially for pollinating crops have gone missing. Colony collapse disorder, which began in 2006, is continuing to cause problems for farmers in the U.S. Already 36% of colonies have been affected since January. What's particularly strange about the problem is that the dead bees are never located.

Much of our food supply is dependent on bees for pollination, so a shortage of bees can limit crop yields.

The problem, of course, is that we're using the bees as machines rather than as part of our natural environment. We truck them from location to location, feed them honey-substitutes, and force them to work for longer periods of the year than is normal for bees.

Busy as bees are, they're not ready for the rat race.

Saving what's left

In a world where species are disappearing at an alarming rate, an effort to preserve the seeds of the world's plant life is underway. One vault is near the North Pole and has security measures worthy of a missile silo.

The February issue of Scientific American suggests that the only way to save the bluefin tuna may be to domesticate it.

Yesterday I was talking to Dad about the crazy solutions that we propose for the problems we've created for ourselves. It's usually an attempt to sweep something under the rug (carbon sequestration), paint over the problem (fortifying junk food), or substitute something "new and improved" (importing Australian bees when the domestic ones starts dying). Rarely these days does the proposal actually deal with the underlying mess.

The conversation turned to the Planet of the Apes movies, and in particular, that final image from the original when Charton Heston realizes, "We did it to ourselves."

We may just yet do it.

First, do no harm

Given our lousy record of trying to solve problems by moving plants and animals from one environment to another (killer bees, kudzu, Cane Toads), I'm somewhat skeptical of this plan to save coral reefs by injecting new species of algae.

Certain kinds of algae give corals their spectacular colors; they live in symbiosis with the tiny creatures that make up coral reefs. Scientists have discovered that there are over a dozen types of algae that live in the reefs, and some are less sensitive to temperature increases than others.

And with ocean temperatures rising due to global warming, many coral reefs around the world are dying off.

The proposed solution? Re-invigorate the dying reefs with injections of more heat-resistant varieties of algae.

Time will tell...

More trouble for crops

First bees, now bats.

Apparently bats are dying off in New York and Vermont from a disease that hasn't previously been reported. Bats are important for agriculture as they eat huge amounts of insects. And with mortality as high as 97% for some colonies, watch out for mosquitoes in the Northeast this summer.

And that means watch out for the West Nile virus, of course. There is speculation that the bat disease may itself be a new arrival from somewhere else on the planet.

Oh, the joys of globalization.

New article from Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan writes about sustainability and agriculture and the potential for disaster should the system break down (which he believes may already be happening). Read "Our Decrepit Food Factories" from yesterday's New York Times Magazine.

To call a practice or system unsustainable is not just to lodge an objection based on aesthetics, say, or fairness or some ideal of environmental rectitude. What it means is that the practice or process can’t go on indefinitely because it is destroying the very conditions on which it depends. It means that, as the Marxists used to say, there are internal contradictions that sooner or later will lead to a breakdown.

And this Washington Post article on global warming would only seem to amplify the impacts of which Pollan warns.

"We are not dealing with a single toxic agent or a single microbe where we can put our finger with certainty on an exposure and the response," said Jonathan A. Patz, a physician and epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "Climate change affects everything."

Heavy sigh.

(See my previous post on Michael Pollan's excellent book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.)

I'm back!

Yes, I've been away for awhile. :-) Here are some quick updates.

I spent nine amazing days down in Puerto Vallarta. Went with some friends from SF and Seattle and ran into other friends from SF and Portland that I didn't know were going to be there. And by the end of the week, we had made new friends from Houston, Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, Dallas... and PV, of course.

What a crazy week! I arrived around 11pm on the Saturday before Easter, met Tommy, Ken, Lynn, and Kevin, and before you could say "peso" we were out for a night of clubbing, some of us returning to the condo at dawn. That became our pattern for the week: dancing most of the night, sleeping until noon, and hitting the beach by 4pm. Perfect!

We met a great group of guys from Houston and had the opportunity to spend some time at the INCREDIBLE villa they had rented on the beach. Two elevators and eight people on staff! What a beautiful house! And such wonderful hosts.

Mid-week Danny and Aaron showed up to complete our group. We had begun to really know our way around and the rhythm of the city, at least La Zona Romantica where our condo and most of the gay scene is located.

I'd share more, but as they say, what happens in PV stays in PV. (Along with a pair of Prada sunglasses, a cell phone, and an ATM card that we managed to lose.)

MY RETURN TO SF WAS A REAL COMEDOWN... I left the club Monday morning leaving myself just enough time to shower and collect my luggage before heading to the airport. The top story that day was the Virginia Tech shooting. Yes, back to America, land of assault weapons.

Upon arriving home, I learned that my dear old friend Robert had a serious bicycling accident in Sydney and was in a coma. We were all on edge for most of the week, but by the following Sunday he had regained consciousness, and his strength and vitality gave us a good feeling that he would recover fully.

Robert is truly a unique man. I've known him for 13 years now. He's brilliant, handsome, quirky, and such an attentive host. Back when we traveled as a pack in the mid-90s, Robert was always quietly working his magic behind the scenes, making things happen: creating a makeshift BBQ out of a flower pot, keeping in touch via walkie-talkie, etc. And such an explorer... he certainly enrolled me in a few "interesting" experiments over the years. He has always followed his own path, successful not only by the common standard but also, I think by his own. He's held on to his integrity all of these years.

We're all pulling for you, Flak!!! Get well soon! xoxoxo

UPDATES

I've collected the minimum $2500 dollars I need to participate in the AIDS LifeCycle and am now halfway to my $5000 fundraising goal. I have to admit to being a little spooked about riding after Robert's accident, but I got back on my bike this week and went on a 40 mile ride with Justin. Still have plenty of training to do! If you'd like to contribute, check out my ride page.

A few updates on the mysterious loss of bee colonies across the country here, here, and here.

And also on the agriculture and food front, an interesting story on how U.S. agricultural policies intersect with the cost of food and the rise of obesity in America.

A couple of food-related news notes

Saw these two stories today...

First, the Food & Drug Administration is considering relaxing the rules around food irradiation and letting irradiated foods be labeled as "pasteurized." Pasteurization currently refers specifically to a process of killing bacteria by heating food to a certain temperature. In my book, changing the term amounts to misleading people. If food is irradiated rather than heated, it should say so.

Secondly, the FDA has also recently decided to allow the sale of cloned animals as food. My biggest concern is not of any specific danger in eating cloned animals. Rather, cloning livestock is another step down the path of industrializing agriculture. The resulting loss of biodiversity increases the risk of some devastating impact to our food supply. Witness the current unexplained loss of bee colonies that has the potential to seriously hinder the pollination of a wide variety of crops.

If you live in Califonia and are concerned about the cloned animal issue, a bill has been introduced requiring that food containing cloned animals is labeled as such. That leaves the choice with the consumer. You can support the bill here.

AIDS LIFECYCLE UPDATE: Yesterday I went on my longest training ride yet, 64 miles from Sausalito to Point Reyes. The last ten miles or so were a bit painful, but overall the day was great. And I was reminded of how fortunate I am to live in an area that has good access to so much open space. Marin County is gorgeous!

Thanks for the invite, James. xoxoxo

More human insanity

Will we ever learn? I read an article in today's New York Times about an unexplained mass disappearance of honey bees in 24 states.

This matters because a third of the food we grow in America is pollinated by the honey bee. Potential explanations for the mass die off--the first documented case of this occurring nationwide--include insecticides and weakened bee immune systems.

And just why are bees immune systems weakening? Well, in our endless attempt to turn nature into one more cog in the U.S. industrialized agricultural machine, bees are now trucked from location to location on 18 wheelers. They are being bred to spend more time gathering pollen and less time making honey. They're being fed a mixture of sucrose and corn syrup instead of honey. And they're being forced to pollinate more months out of the year. The article said that the average lifespan of a queen honey bee is half of what it was ten years ago.

One proposed solution: import Australian bees! Sure, that makes sense... once we kill off the domestic version that's perfectly adapted to our environment, we'll bring in a replacement and take our chances with the unknown consequences of introducing a non-native species.

And we're at the top of the food chain?