>People ask me all the time, "What's with the bees, I hear they are going extinct?" I try to give a short answer but every time I do, I exceed their attention span. 

>They want a quick answer. I should just say "they're fine, don't give it a second thought." But then they would think I must be out of the loop. I'm up on it, all right. 

I've found a simple honest answer that works great, and it's easily understood by everyone.

I tell them that there is a parasite that came from Asia that causes a lot of problems for the bees if beekeepers do not control it.  There are good beekeepers who are not having problems, but we only hear about the not as good beekeepers who are often complaining in hopes of getting some kind of government handout.  CCD appears to be majorly exaggerated, but is trumpeted about by researchers who can't find anything, but use CCD for fear mongering to get more tax dollars wasted on research.  I explain that honeybee colonies can be divided to replace losses, and 30% a year is sustainable - and for the past 15 years, the USDA reports that managed bee populations in the US have remaining fairly consistent at 2.5 million colonies.

I tell them that if we got rid of all the taxpayer funded research, didn't give any subsidies to beekeepers, and let the marginal producers go belly up, the good beekeepers would quickly replace them and the problems with the bees would largely go away.

Just follow the money.  Everyone understands this explanation...except politicians, bad beekeepers, and researchers who want to leech on tax dollars.

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