AN ETHICAL DIMENSION
empathy; it also reminds us that we aren’t passive observers of an idealized abstraction called nature but active participants in shaping the ongoing ecological dramas we are embedded in. And when it comes to honeybees, at least in today’s world, we’re talking about an exploited nonhuman population that we are utterly enmeshed with. We have bred these beings as laborers for a monolithic industry, often in deplorable conditions where they are exposed to numerous stressors, in roles we have imposed on them within systems they cannot control — grounds enough, in my view, for rethinking how we relate to this complex and specialized life-form while highlighting how our actions, particularly in industrial agriculture, might harm them and, by extension, native pollinators and ecologies.
Honeybees are not, and never were, “rats of the sky.” We brought them here on purpose. They’re simply a species performing survival in the places we have put them. The European bee was introduced to North America in the early 1600s, this land of milk and… (I won’t even say it). And, like European humans, the bees have spread across the continent over the past four centuries. Now, for better or worse, this “invasive” species is firmly established here, and there’s no delete button. I put “invasive” in quotes because I take serious ethical issue with referring to an indentured population as invaders while saying nothing of those who maintain the situation. How we frame ecological dilemmas, like the honeybee question, matters, not just because the language we use influences our capacity for
A CASE FOR NATIVE POLLINATORS
COLONY COLLAPSE AND ITS RIPPLE EFFECTS
Before going any further, let’s be clear: Supporting native pollinators is not just important; it’s downright essential. In California, honeybees constitute formidable floral resource competition for more than 1,600 native bee species, as well as moths, birds, butterflies, and other pollinators. This competition is intensified in areas of monoculture farming and fragmented habitats, where honeybee populations have been artificially boosted by Big Agriculture — posing serious threats to the survival of native pollinators. This, in combination with other pressures, has created a situation where honeybees, as marvelous as they are, are scarfing all the food and leaving everyone else in the lurch. So, it’s no wonder folks are rallying behind native pollinators. But here’s the thing…
When CCD first hit the news, it felt almost biblical. Bees weren’t just getting sick and dying; they were vanishing altogether — turning once- bustling apiaries into ghost towns overnight. At first, people blamed the proliferation of cell phone towers for disrupting bees’ ability to navigate back to their hives. This popular hypothesis came from a mix of early media reports citing small studies, public speculation, and the fears of paranoid beekeepers. However, the theory has since been largely discredited, and the root causes of CCD have been found to be more systemic, the result of several factors including widespread use of pesticides on crops, malnutrition caused by monoculture farming — which limits bees to just one type of flower and supplements their diet with high-fructose corn syrup when crops aren’t blooming — and climate change. Stress from irresponsible commercial beekeeping practices is also a factor, such as overcrowding hives and treating parasites with insecticides — despite bees also being insects and, as such, not keen on insecticides — and other human interventions that
weaken colonies and make them susceptible to collapse. But what does any of this have to do with native pollinators? Well, for one, the unsustainable practices that contribute to CCD also affect native species. Pesticides don’t discriminate between honeybees and wild pollinators. Moreover, monoculture farming creates a temporary abundance for honeybees when crops are in bloom but leads to off-season food deserts, causing honeybees to forage elsewhere. This suggests that perhaps Colony Collapse “Disorder” isn’t a disorder but the reasonable response of a species subject to conditions that are increasingly toxic and unsustainable — as if it somehow didn’t occur to anyone that farmed bees might not prefer foraging pesticide-laced nectar and pollen from monoculture GMO crops, only to be euthanized at the end of a season. So it stands to reason that at least some of this unfair competition is driven by honeybees
SUPPORTING NATIVE POLLINATORS IS NOT JUST IMPORTANT; IT’S DOWNRIGHT ESSENTIAL. IN CALIFORNIA, HONEYBEES CONSTITUTE FORMIDABLE FLORAL RESOURCE COMPETITION FOR MORE THAN 1,600 NATIVE BEE SPECIES,
AS WELL AS MOTHS, BIRDS, BUTTERFLIES, AND OTHER POLLINATORS.
migrating to native habitats instead of minding their own beeswax on toxic farms.
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ISSUE 02
BUZZING TOWARD AN ETHICAL PLAN BEE
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