Peter added:  "I wonder how much on earth is still preservable, or whether the whole planet has already been irrevocably transformed."
 
I guess I don't really see this transformation as necessarily a bad thing.  The key word being "necessarily."   Things have changed for the better, and I expect them to get better still.  It does cause me concern as to how dependent our livelihood has become on things like stimulants, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides (and the increasing strength of subsequent pesticides because the bugs have gotten stronger).
 
I don't really want to go back to the world of horse and buggies, manure to fertilize my open pollinated corn and windmills to generate the trickle of electricity I may need after the sun goes down.  The idea of allowing bees to perish because we're too prideful to administer a dose of miticide does not sit well with me.  I'm not sure what this method is preserving.
 
But I neither want a world that is dependent upon a dozen inputs, that when one input is suddenly in short supply (or embargoed by our government) or consumed by an army of locusts that I cannot continue in the manner of my chosen lifestyle.  
 
It sounds to me like we're trying to find the single strain of a universal bee when every environment and every beekeeper brings a different slate of skills and temperments to the table.
 
Why can't our respective wings of the industry (the preservationist and the commercial guys, the hobbyist and the sideliner) work on a different strain of the bee that works for their respective niche, under their respective managerial schemes?
 
Grant
Jackson, MO


      

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