Industrial Farming



I had heard about the vanishing bees and colony collapse disorder a few years back, and its link to pesticides. The details in this video gave a more in-depth background of the problem and possible solutions. I thought it was surprising and somewhat disturbing that they artificially inseminate the queen bees and replace the original mother with younger foreign mothers, despite queen bees lasting 5-6 years. The long travel bees go through to be transported to other farms across the country is also harmful to the colonies. All of these unnatural ways of beekeeping, in addition to the use of systemic pesticides, should not make us wonder why bees are leaving their homes or dying. The largest collapse of over 2 billion bees was alarming and all of these signs should be a wake up call.

I was glad to see that they made the link between the use of systemic pesticides and colony collapse disorder, and banned the use of its application, but more needs to be done as pesticides continue to be used in other methods. The idea of organic and natural methods of beekeeping as alternatives is hopeful.

In Sacramento County, I was unaware that there were factory farms. But there were 5 dairy farms and 1 broiler farm. Both have a huge number of animals per site, around 1,000 cows per site and over 1.6 million chickens. I am not even sure what part of the county these reside in but it must be in the outskirts to be able to house that number of animals. It might also be intentionally hidden from the public's view because if people saw what these farms actually look like, it could change the perception of how animals are raised for meat consumption.

I have composted before just once and it did not turn out that well, but I think if I did it more methodically it would not be that difficult. I have been wanting to try it out again and maybe after watching this movie, I will. The amount of food waste produced from just one person is a lot and it seems so beneficial to be able to create something good out of something that will just become waste.

Comments

  1. Jordan DemosOctober 6, 2018 at 8:41 PM

    Stacey,

    I share your concerns about bees. The video was very informative and definitely focuses on the colony disorder. One thing mentioned within the video is how mass agriculture has turned the process of a bees life into something that is not organic and natural. They are given artificial feed when being transported across the country, and being given very young, artificially raised queens. I believe this is the main problem when it comes to the disorder. If we allow to the bees to live naturally, then I think the problem will start to go away.

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  2. Caitlin WintonOctober 7, 2018 at 8:16 AM

    Hi Stacy,
    Just like you and Jordan and I am extremely concerned about the disappearing bees and colony collapse disorder. I think the dying of the bees is definitely related to the artificial practices of keeping bees but definitely more related to the state of our environment. Climate change is effecting the world in so many ways and the bees are an indicator that something is just not right. We need to listen and start making some changes.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 7, 2018 at 11:18 PM

    "I thought it was surprising and somewhat disturbing that they artificially inseminate the queen bees and replace the original mother with younger foreign mothers, despite queen bees lasting 5-6 years." -WHAT?!?? this piece right here is so crazy. Why do we mess with nature so much.

    I wonder what they do at the USF bee garden. I hope its all natural...

    ReplyDelete

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