>
> >A bunch of weeds that bees make honey on,  is not in any way productive
> valuable use of land.


Charlie, prior to European settlement, there were no "weeds" in
California.  It was native vegetation, and supported one of the world's
most diverse ecological communities, with one of the highest percentages of
endemic species.  You may not consider this to be valuable use of the land
to humans, but it sure was to those species formerly living there.

> To get to where we are as a human race,  we need food.

See, I'm not sure that we should strive to "get where we are," what with an
insane population heading toward 10 billion, at the expense of most other
forms of life.

>AS to diverting water,  So??  We could leave it sit in Oroville reservoir
> until it evaporates off.  Or watch it run to the pacific...


California used to produce stunning runs of salmon, and supported a monster
marine fishery at least partially due to our formerly wet estuaries.  When
we divert excessive amounts of water in order to irrigate what would
naturally be semi desert, we dry up those productive rivers, wetlands, and
estuaries.



> >In this case the amount of bee mass supported by almonds and oranges is
> HUGE...  what about that?
>

Not sure of your point.  My hives are currently in almonds enjoying that
forage (although those I leave at home typically do just as well or
better).

>
> >1.6 million in almonds.  2.8 total in registered commercial,  another
> roughly 800k in hobby hives not registered.  (hard number to prove or
> disprove)  The florida groves are full of hives right now,  as well as many
> areas of texas.
>

Charlie, you're comparing two different numbers.  Let's grant you your
total of 3.6 million hives in July.  Now apply our average 30% winter
loss.  That leaves 2.5 million alive in February.  Almonds require 1.6
million LIVE colonies, which would then be 64% of the total.

>That article was nothing more than a DIRE prediction carefully worded.  I
> was in no way "enlightened" or made to feel good about where we are from
> it.


I'm not sure that the author's intent was to write a feel-good article.
The planet Earth is suffering from the burden of feeding a single species.
California is feeling that burden.  Our high-efficiency agricultural
practices are currently not sustaining pollinators, biodiversity, ground
water, our rivers, our best soils, our mineral resources, etc.  We should
all feed bad about that.  And then we should start changing things to do it
better.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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