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June 13, 2008, 1:37 pm
Flag as Inappropriate skatss  

On the post I put up about the death of honeybees, some people have asked what we, as individuals, can do to help. PBS is having another special about the honeybee problem and they have a website that answers just that question. Here's the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bees/help.html

In short they tell people to get closer to nature. If you have a garden you can become a bee feeder! Keep a backyard bee garden. Backyard gardens can offer a supply of nectar and pollen for honeybees.

Cultivating plants that will attract bees. Choose flowers that bloom successively over the spring, summer, and fall seasons in order to provide pollen and nectar resources to the native bees of all seasons.

Keep part of your backyard wild because bees prefer that to a manicured space. Go for a "planted by nature" effect rather than a perfectly pruned garden. Remember: bees don't discriminate between weeds and cultivated flowers, so let those dandelions grow.

And of course keep your bee garden free of pesticides -- a danger in any garden. Some pesticides can kill the bee before it returns to the hive; other pesticides get carried back and can harm the rest of the hive.

Something the average person can do is to write to their senators and representatives in congress on the federal level and to do the same on the state level to support funding of honeybee research. This support has fallen off over the years.

One more thing we all can do even if you don't have a green thumb or garden: buying pesticide-free foods at the market also protects humans and bees.

Those are good suggestions, except I am scared of being stung by bees so I prefer not to have them so near to my person. I can however buy pesticide free foods.

I've watched an tv episode on bees called bee therapy. It's surprising though that it's venom can cure rheumatic diseases, especially arthritis and multiple sclerosis. People who are in this therapy let themselves stung by a bee. Scary but they said that they've been cured by it.

I don't know about bee stings curing rheumatic diseases. The biochemistry of these conditions is deeper than just the significant pain and other signs or symptoms. Bee stings probably enhance endorphin production leading to temporary relief, IMHO.

If the stings have to be repeated, then they aren't during, they are relieving.