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Why even is it under discussion. Just stop harming the bees. When they are gone, so are we. Bigger, more profitable yeilds is not what we should be focusing

Why even is it under discussion. Just stop harming the bees. When they are gone, so are we. Bigger, more profitable yeilds is not what we should be focusing on. Saving the bees and humanity in the process is slightly more important imho

sp332 9y ago
Pesticides are not enough to explain all the harm to bees. Fungus and parasites can destroy colonies too. We have to consider how to live without as many bees as we have now, because we don't know how to save all the bees.
- sitkack 9y ago
  The right thing to do is it wait until all the conclusive evidence is in. It is anti-science to not think about the corporate bottom line. It _may_ not be caused by the pesticide, changing or stopping the use of the pesticide could not be necessary and then we would have accidentally saved the world while having less profit.
  - sp332 9y ago
    I get that this post is sarcastic/satirical, but it still feels like you're disagreeing with me?
    - sitkack 9y ago
      > Pesticides are not enough to explain all the harm to bees. How do you know this? Because of the possibility (and it will always exist) of something else able to harm bees we should take no action? > "we don't know how to save all the bees" Is this forgone conclusion? Sounds like you are begging the question [1] I am reminded of, http://i.imgur.com/couhw4k.jpg http://i.imgur.com/couhw4k.jpg [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question
      - sp332 9y ago
        I'm not saying the bees will definitely die off. I'm saying we don't know. We need to be prepared in case it happens. Edit: I definitely didn't say that we should take no action. Edit2: If you're asking "what else has been killing bees en masse", here's a list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
        sitkack 9y ago
        I am sure we agree, just not the delivery.
GuB-42 9y ago
I can't believe the idea that humanity depend on bees. Sure, no more bees would be a very, very bad news. But humans are a pretty hardy specie. First, we are omnivores. Second, we have conquered the whole planet and live in huge numbers. And third, we are really smart. Besides cosmic scale events, I don't think of many scenarios that could damage humanity beyond recovery.
- stinos 9y ago
  As far as i know, no, humanity won't disappear when bees would do (even though I have seen people claiming it). Sure, some plants might solely depend on bees for pollination, but there are also plants which don't and there are also other pollinators. See https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/30495/do-bees-pollinate-1-3-of-the-worlds-food-sources https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/30495/do-bees-p... for example: The authors of the FAO analysis concluded that the proportion of global food production attributable to animal pollination ranges from 5% in industrialized nations to 8% in the developing world. That being said: it is pretty hard to predict waht would happen suppose there were no bees at all. I doubt it would be nice though.
- pvaldes 9y ago
  Lets say that millions of people would die without bees then to put things into context.

sp332 9y ago

Pesticides are not enough to explain all the harm to bees. Fungus and parasites can destroy colonies too. We have to consider how to live without as many bees as we have now, because we don't know how to save all the bees.

sitkack 9y ago
The right thing to do is it wait until all the conclusive evidence is in. It is anti-science to not think about the corporate bottom line. It _may_ not be caused by the pesticide, changing or stopping the use of the pesticide could not be necessary and then we would have accidentally saved the world while having less profit.
- sp332 9y ago
  I get that this post is sarcastic/satirical, but it still feels like you're disagreeing with me?
  - sitkack 9y ago
    > Pesticides are not enough to explain all the harm to bees. How do you know this? Because of the possibility (and it will always exist) of something else able to harm bees we should take no action? > "we don't know how to save all the bees" Is this forgone conclusion? Sounds like you are begging the question [1] I am reminded of, http://i.imgur.com/couhw4k.jpg http://i.imgur.com/couhw4k.jpg [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question
    - sp332 9y ago
      I'm not saying the bees will definitely die off. I'm saying we don't know. We need to be prepared in case it happens. Edit: I definitely didn't say that we should take no action. Edit2: If you're asking "what else has been killing bees en masse", here's a list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
      - sitkack 9y ago
        I am sure we agree, just not the delivery.

GuB-42 9y ago

I can't believe the idea that humanity depend on bees. Sure, no more bees would be a very, very bad news. But humans are a pretty hardy specie. First, we are omnivores. Second, we have conquered the whole planet and live in huge numbers. And third, we are really smart. Besides cosmic scale events, I don't think of many scenarios that could damage humanity beyond recovery.

stinos 9y ago
As far as i know, no, humanity won't disappear when bees would do (even though I have seen people claiming it). Sure, some plants might solely depend on bees for pollination, but there are also plants which don't and there are also other pollinators. See https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/30495/do-bees-pollinate-1-3-of-the-worlds-food-sources https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/30495/do-bees-p... for example: The authors of the FAO analysis concluded that the proportion of global food production attributable to animal pollination ranges from 5% in industrialized nations to 8% in the developing world. That being said: it is pretty hard to predict waht would happen suppose there were no bees at all. I doubt it would be nice though.
pvaldes 9y ago
Lets say that millions of people would die without bees then to put things into context.