Bees and a Global Issues Course

I teach a junior-level interdisciplinary course called Global Issues and every semester I am faced with the same problem: How do I engage students to consider important macro-structural global issues without losing them? An understanding of the problems (and benefits) surrounding economic and environmental globalization are a must for any informed citizen, yet, for many students, these issues are too abstract and distant from them. Their eyes glaze over with each discussion of IMF policy, or the impact of neo-conservative ideology. I do well enough on my evaluations so I could ignore this problem and coast to retirement, but I have this gut feeling, not found in any of the "positivist" assessment tools used to evaluate the course, that my students are just not getting it. Developmentally, my students are very concrete thinkers, so I am left with the problem of getting them somehow to ponder very abstract concepts.

One approach to my dilemma is to get my students to cultivate what we sociologists call "the sociological imagination": the ability to perceive that one's inner and day-to-day life is very much connected to the larger macro-structures we live within; the concrete mundane problems that we can easily grasp are very much related to those larger global issues and policies which we see as distant.

I've been pondering then whether all this research and hands-on activity I've been absorbing about bees and apiculture might be one such concrete activity that might get some of these global issues across. The problems (e.g CCD, organic vs conventional husbandry) that beekeepers face are not simply biological issues, but are impacted by macro structural forces as well, connected to a short term profit oriented global economy. While it is probably too late to add apiculture as a case study of global issues to my syllabus this fall, perhaps I can do something when I teach the course in the spring. Anyone want to give a guest lecture?

Bee Sculpture is Done

I've been following the artistic collaboration going on between bees and beekeeper at Hive Mind and it looks like the girls have finished their work. I'm very impressed with the results. Are there art galleries out their that would display this work?

And Another Article on CCD

I've been traveling a bit the last week. While traveling I came across this article.

More On Encaustic Painting

My favorite contemporary encaustic paintings are created by an interdisciplinary artist named Monta Gael May. (Ms May is also co-founder of Magnetic Aesthetic Art-Cars.) Her bold, abstract paintings have this organic feel to them, almost as if they were painted from the perspective of some insect or ground-level forest creature. If you're interested in seeing some of Monta May's work, close-up and live, her new show "Interstices" will be appearing at the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota art gallery, starting in late August.

This Just In...

Another article on CCD, this time in the New York Times.

The Research II: Top Bar Hive

I am really intrigued with what I've been reading about the Top Bar Hive (TBH) and am pondering how best to include this in my upcoming "game plan". Yes, I admit, part of my attraction to this hive design is its "exoticness" and uniqueness, but I think I am mostly attracted to it because it seems less intrusive and disruptive to the bees and this means less stress. Allowing the bees more leeway in the drawing of comb makes them more co-managers of the apiary with me as well. My step-son is also excited about the possibility of building me one. In all, it seems much more in keeping with my values of sustainability.

My real dilemma is at what point in my beekeeping journey does a TBH become a part? I am leaning toward beginning with a conventional hive like I discussed earlier in my "game plan" post and then adding a TBH in two years when I divide my original hive. Any thoughts about this from experienced beekeepers?

For any of you who are as inexperienced concerning TBHs as I am, should check out the many wonderful websites on this hive design. A good place to begin might be The Sustainable Beekeeping Project. This website contains a wealth of information on TBHs, plans for its construction, and links to other TBH sites on the web.

Beekeeping in Sichuan

I read an interesting blog post today concerning beekeeping in the Sichuan mountain region of southwest China. According to the author, Richard Spencer, many residents of this region have received grants to start beekeeping after logging was banned. Over logging and the consequent flooding all but destroyed an area that was once the natural habitat of the panda. Spencer ends his post wondering "if it (beekeeping) can ever meet (the) farmers' dreams."

I wonder whether Sichuan is just heading for another ecological disaster. If Phil Chandler is correct (and I think he is) that ecologically sound, sustainable beekeeping is only possible when done on a small scale, then these farmers' dependence on commerical, apiculture as a means of economic survival is a short term solution in which the bees may pay an ecological cost.