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Yet another story on the crisis of dying honeybees and yet again, no mention of the fact that honeybees are not the only pollinators out there. The fact that honeybees are transported around the country to perform their important pollination duties is mentioned as an interesting fact but not analyzed at all. This is typical of how the media has covered this story and is especially disappointing coming from Salon.
It is important to remember that the honeybees used in the United States are European in origin--in fact they are non-native domesticated agricultural livestock. This does not make them evil, but it should put the story of their use and abuse into perspective.
Does anyone stop to wonder why we need to use mobile hives of domesticated insects to pollinate our food crops when this continent has hundreds of native insects capable of pollination? In fact, this crisis is brought on by the monocultural practices of industrial agriculture.
Vast fields (or forests) of a single species cover acres upon acres. The plants bloom for perhaps one or two weeks a year. Any possible habitat for local insects (shrubs, brush piles, etc.) are eliminated. Poisons are spread all around to complete the job. Few native pollinators can survive in such a landscape. And so we have to bring in the honeybees. It does not have to be this way.
