The Road to Non-Sustainability is Paved with Good Intentions

Readers of this blog recognize that "Treadmill of Production Theory" underlies many of my ideas on sustainable beekeeping and what I call "social apiculture": the idea that sustainable beekeeping is not simply a matter of how we manage our hives, nor where we locate our hives in the physical environment but also a matter of the very way human beings organize their own societies. The following is an illustration of some of these ideas. Originally, it was written as a comment to a friend's facebook status, but I decided instead to simply share it here.

Let's take a very real, concrete example: commercial migratory beekeeping. Even the largest commercial pollination service is more often than not a small family-run concern. Commercial beekeepers can make a comfortable living but still are just one or two months ahead of their creditors (like most of us). They take pride in the fact that their services help keep a variety of foods on America's dinner table.

Now let's say it's February, the beginning of the migratory beekeeping season and Mr. X is ready to truck his thousands of honeybee colonies into the California almond orchards. He discovers his bees aren't doing all that well. The mite count is high in his hives and they seem to have dysentery. A long-term sustainable approach might be to let Darwinian selection weed out the weak hives and breed from the survivors, however, that would mean losing many hives and possibly going bankrupt. Not only would this threaten his business but also his children's college fund, and next mortgage payment. He, instead, takes the short-term route, using miticides and fungicides on his hives, pumping the colonies with HFCS, trucking them out to the fields and hoping for the best. He knows this solution is not sustainable in that it only creates resistant mites and fungi over the long-term but his family does have to eat. So with all his good intentions he decides in favor of non-sustainability.

Visit to Beelandia on Super Sunday

I took a break from my grading to go out to Beelandia and check on the bees. Today's weather was primarily overcast though the sun occasionally peeked out from behind the clouds. The temperature in Winona was about 27 degrees.

There were bees leaving the top entrances of both Bee Glad... (see photo above) and Nuc to Be Named Later as the bees either went off to die or make a cleansing flight. I did not see any bees flying about Lib-BEE-taria although there were signs of recent activity at the entrance (i.e. newly removed dead bees). Metropolis, our oldest top bar also had bees flying about as well. I did not see any activities around Plan Bee from Outer Space (our newer top bar), at least not of the apis mellifera-kind. I think, however, the hive does have mice. How the bees fair this invasion will be a question for a warmer day!

Almond Nectar Poisonous to Most Animals Except Honeybees

Below is a description of an interesting article about almond nectar and honeybees. To read the whole article, check this link to Newswise.

"The nectar of the almond tree produces an extraordinary and dangerous poison. This is the only known plant to have this poison in its flowers' nectar. A study carried out at the University of Haifa has revealed that bees are mysteriously drawn to the toxic substance."

Two Packages Ordered (Just in Case)

The honeybees in my five hives seem to be doing fine this winter, however, the next six weeks are a critical time in the life of a hive. Yes, my over-wintering hives look good today, but who knows what will happen in those weeks approaching spring. As a precaution, I've ordered two 3 lb. packages of bees from B and B. If all my hives survive then I will use the packages to start colonies at other out areas or give them to my beekeeping friends in the area whose colonies may not have survived.

Treadmill of Production: A CMAP is Worth a Thousand Words

I created this cmap in order to explain treadmill of production theory to my Public Policy class. I think it is such a thing of of beauty I thought I would share it with my readers. If this theory is empirically valid, what implications might this have for honeybees and sustainable beekeeping?

Frozen River Film Festival-- "Canaries in a Coal Mine" Film set

Winona Minnesota's annual Frozen River Film Festival is this week and I will be introducing a "film set" I have labeled Canaries in a Coal Mine films. Each of the three films concerns the plight of a living creature, its role in the ecological system, and the possible consequences its plight has for the ecological and socio-economic environments.

The first movie is Skylight (David Baas). This animated film concerns the ecological of penguins in the Antarctic and what their plight might mean human beings.

The second movie, End of the Line (Rupert Murray), is about the devastating effect that overfishing our oceans and the total disregard our politicians and famous restaurateurs seem to have for this problem. The movie predicts the end of most seafood by 2048.

As a beekeeper, I will be most interested in the last film: Jason Kushner's American Colonies- Collapse of the Bee. The film examines the place of the honeybee in our economy and biophysical environment and the threat Colony Collapse Disorder might pose to both. The film also presents possible solutions to this threat.

The three films will be shown at 3:30 at the Science Laboratory Center Lecture Hall (SLC 120) at Winona State University.

A Place for a Mating Nuc, and a Hive.

I got my first confirmation for a place to put a mating nuc or two. All I need is for my hives to actually survive.