On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:55:59 -0500, James Fischer <bee-quick@BEE-
QUICK.COM> wrote:

 
>But if we do run up against a serious problem with significant
>implications for the "future of beekeeping" or "the future of bees",
>my money will be on our ability to use tools like artificial insemination
>(tools EXACTLY like artificial insemination) to save the day.

Hi Jim,

I appreciated many of the points made by Steve Noble but agree that 
artifical (instrumental?) insemination is a bit of a red herring. But if 
we could get our minds of sex for a minute... I don't see how AI is going 
to solve many of the problems beekeeping is facing. 

The problems I see are polluted hives, polluted air and polluted soil. We 
know bees thrive in a clean environment. So you would think beekeepers 
would be the biggest environmentalists around but their not. Instead we're 
solving problems short term by trucking bees around the country, flying 
bees around the world and using drugs up the ying yang. 

And I do think we are way out on a limb. Another metaphor that comes to 
mind is "having all your eggs in one basket". Modern agriculture is 
depending pretty heavily on honeybees for pollination. If the environment 
is posioning them I don't think instrumental insemination is going to save 
the day.

There are lots of books around these days that chronicle the collapse of 
civilizations that over exploited their environments. ( eg. Collapse by 
Jared Diamond, History of the World by J.M.Roberts, dare I mention Al 
Gore?) It is easy to be fatalistic about what will happen with our 
civilization and say we can't change our path but I appreciate Steve for 
at least discussing the matter.

And thanks for the laughs. Your posts always make me laugh somehow.

Ted  
 

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