Happily those insect motels of straw and cinder-blocks are getting as popular and common as bird houses, but there’s no reason, as the fabulous Everlasting Blรถrt informs, to skimp on luxury for our apian friends. To underscore their appreciation for these pollinators for supplying their fruits and vegetables, a storied and posh Yorkshire emporium has teamed up with Kew Botanical Gardens to prove their swarms lavish lodging in the Grand Beedapest Hotel. Read all about the project and urban bee-keeping at the link.
Monday 1 August 2016
Wednesday 18 November 2015
the bees’ knees or honeycomb hideout
As if humans weren’t already enough of a plague for the bees and their business, I learnt recently of a newly discovered component that might tease out a bit more about why bees as a real ecological keystone are vanishing and well as the wildlife they support.
Although diesel emissions are very much a contentious subject right now, it would serve one well to realise despite the increase in traffic and that our driving is leaving a much bigger footprint than we’ve been led to believe, three decades ago, the situation was far more dire with trees growing along the Autobahn covered in black soot and at least know, slowly, we are paying greater attention to the important things, diesel—specifically the nitrous oxide (NOx) which probably isn’t good for any living thing in any amount—has a measurable cognitive detriment for the pollinators. Vehicle exhaust affects the subtle aromatic chemistry of the flowers that bees seek and even a tiny change in the scent environment means that bees can’t form a mental map of the desired nectar and can’t communicate with their interpretive dance to others in the hive. Possibly this signals interference does not spread far from the shoulder of the road and may not be the chief pathogen working against the colonies (as there are several other candidates—habitat loss, pesticides, genetically modified crops, electrosmog from cellular masts, etc.), this is yet another reason to clean up our obsession with fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine, which seems quite antiquated and steam-punk no matter how it’s packaged.
catagories: ๐ช️, ๐ฑ, ๐, ๐, environment
Tuesday 2 June 2015
five-by-five
cat fancy: collection of Wikipedia articles involving legendary felines
merry melodies: five bizarre Looney Tunes cartoons
honeycomb hideout: Oslo builds a bee highway through the city
vajen-bader: possible 1800s steampunk inspiration for Star Wars cast of characters
Friday 20 February 2015
mead hall or on tap
catagories: ⚕️, ๐ฑ, ๐, ๐ก, environment, food and drink
Friday 13 September 2013
apiculture or re-colonisation
I fear that worldwide, bees—domestic and wild—are far from being completely out of the woods when it comes to any number of natural and artificial ravages, it seemed like the bees returned this summer in Germany, at least, with a vengeance.
Any number of factors could have been decimating their numbers, which drive worker-bees from their hives and thus the support system collapses—ranging from cellular phone masts, parasites, pesticides, genetically modified crops to mono-culturing, and I wonder what factors shifted here to very nearly make sitting outside intolerable. Or maybe those are just all the prodigal bees that disappeared from their home-hives on the return. Of course, I'll suffer a curious bee droning too close and investigating my food and drink but at times it was enough to move the table-setting indoors. It was worse and more immediate than ants marching on a picnic, and I wonder if the stabilisation of the population will once again make bees the object of irreverence, instead of dire concern, like with the portrayals of killer bees in B-movies and angsty media.
catagories: ⚕️, ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ฑ, ๐, environment, food and drink
Tuesday 16 April 2013
honey-comb hideout continued or pesticides versus pollinators
Correspondence leaked to Corporate Europe Observatory suggests the furious extent of the lobbying campaign on the part of at least two major chemical and pharmacological concerns against a proposed ban of substances that may be responsible for the widespread decline in the bee population.
catagories: ⚕️, ๐, ๐ฑ, ๐, ๐ฆ, environment, food and drink
Tuesday 8 May 2012
beeswax
catagories: ⚕️, ๐ฑ, ๐, environment