Bees are in peril, bats are in peril, predators are in... well you get the picture. The question at the end of the article asks what is causing this. For bees there are multiple factors, as the article synthesizes. When you look at one problem, plummeting bee or bat or bird populations for instance, it seems like a problem that can be fixed. All problems viewed in symphony however seems a much more daunting task to surmount. Are we in peril as well? I don't normally give in to fears of doom but, DOOM!!! Just a little humor, if you don't laugh about it you can only cry.
"Interestingly, some beekeepers who normally avoid problems by protecting their bees during the hardest part of the winter in huge potato warehouses are having problems. The weather, too, was against the bees this year. Deadly cold temperatures were harder than normal on the bees that had been loaded on trucks moving west, causing significant losses for some. Down south, where bees are normally soaking up the sun and honey from Florida's balmy days, winter seeped south and kept those bees from doing much of anything except staying home and keeping warm. So instead of building nicely, they stubbornly, simply stayed warm. They didn't grow, expand into colonies the size almond groves need. So they're out of the equation.
So prices are officially crazy. Three weeks ago if you asked $150 rent for colony you'd be laughed right out of the almond orchard. Today, $200 isn't an uncommon offer, and the line goes out to the parking lot for growers wanting to pay that amount. What's causing this?"
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