Thursday, June 10, 2010

Are we the weeds? Let's help the honey bees

We have plunked ourselves into ecosystems and rather than care for them in order to retain them and protect them, we intrude and introduce new vocabulary in order to manage, manipulate and profit from them and ultimately destroy them.

The word 'Weed'.
It is "considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-made settings like gardens, parks, etc." (Wikipedia). In fact, these plants are valuable. The Queen Bee Breeder we interviewed, who is also researching the decline of bees gave us some valuable information about a number of plants we call 'weeds'. 

</object>

One plant Liz emphasized in the clip is the Knapweed and it's value not only to bees, but to birds and butterflies and moths. Interestingly, upon doing a Google Search for the correct spelling, I came upon an article Knapweed - Its cost to British Columbia published by the Government of British Columbia promoting the eradication of the Knapweed.

It's cost to British Columbia?
Eradication of weeds could very well be contributing to the end of our bees and pollinators and therefore, our food production. The honey bee is responsible for every 1 out of 3 bites of food. I would hope in the light of knowledge and research readily available about the importance of our flora, the Government of British Columbia would rethink this position.

So what are the weeds? Are we truly the weeds? Some of us are . . . 
Take action:  leave the dandelions leave the knapweeds




JCVdude
Joe Vass
Freelance Videographer/Citizen Journalist
( No.1 Most Viewed Video in Canada)
(17th Most Viewed All Time in Canada)http://www.youtube.com/JCVdude

No comments: