Oh No- not the bumblebees too
 

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/...ing-honeybees/
Seems they are suffering a worse fate than honeybees.
Bumblebees are my biggest pollinators here as I live in a patch in the woods. I need to dig out that thread on bumblebee housing.

I have made sure, for years, that my yard is a safe haven.
I let blooming 'weeds' go wild. Lemon balm, cat nip, bee balm have free reign.
There is a section of the yard that we don't mow. We let the grasses bloom, the Queen Anne's Lace, Golden Rod and Wild Asters take over.

And I make sure not to buy ANY blooming anything from box stores, as they have systemic insecticides in their plants that can harm pollinators.

And I make sure to have a little fountain of some sort that the pollinators can drink from and around.
That made a HUGE difference in the number of pollinators in my gardens.

When we moved in there were none.
Not a single bee, bumble o pollinator fly anywhere.
I had to self pollinate everything.
Now?
I have tons.
I saw the first honey bee of the season sipping off of the Dead Nettles that I let bloom and take over in the springtime.
Dead Nettles, Speedwell, the clovers.. all of those weeds that most folks hate.. I let them grow in the spring.
They de back in the heat, but provide crucial early pollen for the pollinators.

Bumblebees are are definitely suffering. It's not all species but I know Bombus fervidus, the Golden Northern Bumble Bee, is imperiled.

If you can find a full version of this article: http://link.springer.com/article/10....531-012-0383-2, I suggest reading it.

Planting native species in your garden and not using pesticides will definitely help.

I have never seen a wild Bumble Bee hive.

They don't have a "hive" as they are more of a solitary bee. I found a few by following the bee as a child, just a couple cells in a natural cavity of some sort.
Lots of bees here, little is sprayed at all other than the classic herbicides (glyphosate, 2,4-D) and sometimes reglone on pulse crops. Lots of flowering crops plus many are bad at cutting their alfalfa late... Good for bees though! Hope to get a hive this year or next!

It will probably take the politicians another 10 years to ban the irresponsible use of the pesticides that are killing them.

They still haven't told the shippers to stop importing exotic species into the Great Lakes despite the billions of dollars the ones they already stocked are costing taxpayers.

This is why the bees are dying, GMO. http://www.naturalnews.com/041123_gm..._gm_corn.html#

Monarch butterflies are declining too.

What happened to the butterflies? https://www.google.ca/#q=what+happen...he+butterflies

It looks like it would be possible to establish permanent (until we need it) migration passageways with native plants like milkweed for monarchs and other insects that migration.

I just heard on the news this a.m. that this horrible winter weather is taking a drastic toll on the bees as well. The honey bees can't get out of the hives as they usually do in the winter. They also need more honey to survive and they are running out. Beekeepers are losing a large percentage of their hives and it will take time and money to replenish them.

I usually have a lot of bumble bees and a good amount of honey bees in my yard and garden, but last year I had very few of either. I had a lot of fruit, but it was other pollinators that took up the slack. I did not see one Monarch butterfly. I leave wild patches in my yard with milkweed, nettles, dames rocket and much more and I never use chemicals. I have one neighbor that keeps her yard intentionally organic and two others that are organic by accident. We have one neighbor that uses every chemical known to man - probably to kill the insects that we are protecting.

I saw lots of milkweed last summer but I think only one monarch adult and no caterpillars.

Yesterday I was buzzed by one lone, seriously aggravated bumblebee. It was intensly prodding at the few huckleberry flowers in bloom. All this unusually warm weather must have sent them foraging early.

Bees do not pollenate corn.

IMHO Natural News is chock full of lies.:kung:

This pretty well sums it up:
"We have all been eating bacillus thuringiensis our entire lives. It is a soil borne bacteria, naturally occurring. You breath it, you eat it. The human body is capable of digesting more than you realize. Don't you realize that there are natural foods that are highly poisonous? Even salt is harmful if eaten in too large quantities. Bacillus thuringiensis is harmless unless you are the bacteria that live in the stomach of and enable digestion in lepidopteran insects.. It would be as productive to worry about the sky falling. Yes, you can read scary things about GMO foods. There are people that make their living trying to scare people and they use junk science. You can depend on the EPA and the FDA - and 15 years of history, billions of meals fed."

It doesn't matter whether or not bees pollenate corn. They still eat pollen, and they take nectar. As pointed out in another topic bees and butterflies, like any other nectar ingesting insects, will take nectar from wherever it is available. Nectar doesn't only come from flower nectaries, it also is exuded out of the nectary glands on leaves, stems, nuts, seeds, grains and fruits. All plants have nectary glands somewhere on them, even corn.

I strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty. Agenda 21 is a conspiracy by the United Nations to deprive individuals of property rights.

Whaaaaatttt?

Ummmm ....... not sure what you think Agenda 21 has got to do with the topic but if all the pollinators disappear then all food everywhere will disappear. Agenda 21 and people's sovereign property rights will be the very least of people's worries as mass starvation and disease epidemics spread around the world.

And the Agenda 21 things is silly anyway.
We all signed that about a million years ago and it is NON-BINDING.
It was just a 'feel good' thing.
Non-binding.
But folks are making a ton off of it.. writing books, talking about it to gain viewership/listeners.
I have to smile anytime anyone freaks out about it because it's funny.

:pound: OMG!!!:hysterical: Can't Breath! :rotfl: Laughing too hard!:runforhills:

(Ya, if your Monsanto.)

Oh! Oh! I missed that!
Wow...
I'm with Buffy..:umno::rotfl::rotfl:

I hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but it seems like a lot of internet alternate news services have been reporting that big food, big pharma, and the FDA have been rotating top and middle management people regularly. When one gets caught out lying or it's his turn to be the scapegoat, they rotate to another cushy position.
How incestuous! :hrm:

Those people with a wealth of knowledge in GMO is a relatively small group. When hiring an inspector, one must hire from that pool. When hiring a scientist to work in that field, an inspector, that has a wealth of experience would be a good choice. Then understand that there are lots of people hired by industry and government that haven't worked for government or industry. But when they are, it makes news.

The US needs to start handing out prison terms for the people who are harming people and the environment and then hiding behind the corporate shield. Track down the people responsible for that coal chemical dump and drag them into criminal court.

Fines that amount to nothing but the cost of doing business is not enough anymore.

If I tore apart my inside shed wall in July, I would get a close-up view!

You got that right. Some greenie on another board posts all of their articles as if they were gospel. They are quickly shot down by people who know better. Some of them are just laughable.