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What's more worrisome is that I haven't heard of this and haven't seen it on the news, yet I've seen reports on Kim Kardashian's fragrance bottle being shaped l

What's more worrisome is that I haven't heard of this and haven't seen it on the news, yet I've seen reports on Kim Kardashian's fragrance bottle being shaped like her and Kanye private texts with John Legend about Trump. And these are on so-called "news" stations, it just blows my mind....

abritinthebay 9y ago
It was on national news... for like a day. Most people seem to know about it but not how serious it is.
DelightOne 9y ago
Its not actionable either I think. Or What would you have done? Voted differently? Started an argument on reddit or here? Write an app? Whats the impact of that.
- seer 9y ago
  Well you could plant more flowers in your garden, or any other place like that you have access to. Its not much but if enough people do it, it can get people aware of this issue and help build political will. You know “grass roots” movement. I just heard this in a recent TED podcast that this is what some people were doing :)
  - jeena 9y ago
    My mom did that a coupple of years ago, she took a big chunk of where formally only was gras which my dad cut often and has sown flowers there. Tons of insects came by, I have a coupple of pictures from back then on flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeena/albums/72157634192672920 https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeena/albums/72157634192672920
  - DelightOne 9y ago
    The sentiment is appreciated and I doubt its impact on anything is measurable at all.
    - MattBlissett 9y ago
      Don't just speculate! http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature21709 http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature21709 It had a measurable impact when planting "wild"flowers on 2% of the land alongside English fields, with a little more searching there's probably a study on gardens. (From the paper: "Here we show that the survival of family lineages from the summer worker to the spring queen stage in the following year increases significantly with the proportion of high-value foraging habitat, including spring floral resources, within 250–1,000 m of the natal colony.") However, the jury's out on "insect hotels": http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0122126 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....
- kaybe 9y ago
  Build an insect hotel, plant some suitable flowers, take care of your immediate environment. The impact may be small, but it quickly visible to you and that is nice, at least.
  - DelightOne 9y ago
    I'm a city man and have no suitable land so no to that. > but it quickly visible to you Definitely measurable in that it gives them more options which is probably better for them with proper care. Doesn't have impact on the main problem though.
    - gascan 9y ago
      You don't need much land at all to plant a bee garden. You actually don't even have to have land. We've got a little wildflower patch, maybe six square feet. Was covered in all kinds of bees & insects last summer.
- sametmax 9y ago
  You can vote with your wallet and support financially entities that care about it, choosing the products you buy. You can eat less meat, hence require less crop for your food and so less insecticides. You can teach your children to do so, and also to not consider insect as something to fear and systematically eliminate, but something to live with.
  - ScottBurson 9y ago
    And you can eat organically-grown food as much as possible.
- rsynnott 9y ago
  Voting differently would be the obvious one. This sort of thing’s very much political.
  - DelightOne 9y ago
    How does said party know why a specific voter voted for them, what their mandate is?
    - moonka 9y ago
      You have to let them know. Write and call your representatives.
      - DelightOne 9y ago
        My lobbying budget is quite small compared to others.
        ergothus 9y ago
        (Regarding a generic "you":) If you've called your representatives, you gain my sympathy and concern. If you've assumed ten minutes a month isn't worth it, these arguments are not persuasive.
        DelightOne 9y ago
        And what impact does THAT have on anything exactly? I thought of a thing that might have at least a little. edit: I know I strode a little from the mandate part cause mandates may differ in relative importance for everyone.
        ergothus 9y ago
        Perhaps I'm not following your intention. I saw: Person A: voting helps You: How do they know why you're voting on this? Person B: You have to tell them You: But others spend more money and thus count for more Me: That's an excuse unless you've actually tried it (and if you have, yeah, that sucks) If I misread, my apologies - based on on your response it appears I have.
- Tepix 9y ago
  Of course you can do something. Buy organic. Support local beekeepers. I'm turning my lawn into a wildflower meadow.
castle-bravo 9y ago
A paranoid person might conclude that there's an industrial scale effort to distract the population from any issue that might be even tangentially related to their real interests; e.g. their survival and that of their children.
- ergothus 9y ago
  A more paranoid person might conclude humans are easy to be distracted by short-term entertainment/profit and handle long-term threats very poorly. It's not like climate change, mass extinctions, and environmental damage are unheard of - the vast majority of people have heard, but just don't care in ways that would make a significant difference. I'm doubtless among them even as I complain about it.
- aeorgnoieang 9y ago
  What would such a person consider to be the motivation of the people involved in such "an industrial scale effort"? Are the deceiver's real interests somehow not threatened? Are they literally not human? Or are they protected somehow from the issues that will kill everyone else?
thaumaturgy 9y ago
> I've seen reports on Kim Kardashian's fragrance bottle being shaped like her and Kanye private texts with John Legend about Trump As a start, I'd encourage you to choose different news sources, because I've no idea what you're referring to here and your comment on HN is the first I've seen of it (and thanks for that). I'm not being facile here; we need more people to stop consuming pop-culture "news" as a good first step towards solving important and difficult problems. Media will report on the subjects that people read, watch, and talk about. So, avoid the garbage.
justbees2 9y ago
This article was on the front page of The Guardian for much of yesterday, and is the fourth on the subject so far this year. They had something like 20 articles last year[1], it would be very difficult to miss. (I was about to praise them for not writing more about the latest celebrity baby, but they have, damn them. I was trying to go as long as possible without learning his name, and there it is in the "most read" section.) [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bees https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bees

abritinthebay 9y ago

It was on national news... for like a day. Most people seem to know about it but not how serious it is.

DelightOne 9y ago

Its not actionable either I think. Or What would you have done? Voted differently? Started an argument on reddit or here? Write an app? Whats the impact of that.

seer 9y ago
Well you could plant more flowers in your garden, or any other place like that you have access to. Its not much but if enough people do it, it can get people aware of this issue and help build political will. You know “grass roots” movement. I just heard this in a recent TED podcast that this is what some people were doing :)
- jeena 9y ago
  My mom did that a coupple of years ago, she took a big chunk of where formally only was gras which my dad cut often and has sown flowers there. Tons of insects came by, I have a coupple of pictures from back then on flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeena/albums/72157634192672920 https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeena/albums/72157634192672920
- DelightOne 9y ago
  The sentiment is appreciated and I doubt its impact on anything is measurable at all.
  - MattBlissett 9y ago
    Don't just speculate! http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature21709 http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature21709 It had a measurable impact when planting "wild"flowers on 2% of the land alongside English fields, with a little more searching there's probably a study on gardens. (From the paper: "Here we show that the survival of family lineages from the summer worker to the spring queen stage in the following year increases significantly with the proportion of high-value foraging habitat, including spring floral resources, within 250–1,000 m of the natal colony.") However, the jury's out on "insect hotels": http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0122126 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....
kaybe 9y ago
Build an insect hotel, plant some suitable flowers, take care of your immediate environment. The impact may be small, but it quickly visible to you and that is nice, at least.
- DelightOne 9y ago
  I'm a city man and have no suitable land so no to that. > but it quickly visible to you Definitely measurable in that it gives them more options which is probably better for them with proper care. Doesn't have impact on the main problem though.
  - gascan 9y ago
    You don't need much land at all to plant a bee garden. You actually don't even have to have land. We've got a little wildflower patch, maybe six square feet. Was covered in all kinds of bees & insects last summer.
sametmax 9y ago
You can vote with your wallet and support financially entities that care about it, choosing the products you buy. You can eat less meat, hence require less crop for your food and so less insecticides. You can teach your children to do so, and also to not consider insect as something to fear and systematically eliminate, but something to live with.
- ScottBurson 9y ago
  And you can eat organically-grown food as much as possible.
rsynnott 9y ago
Voting differently would be the obvious one. This sort of thing’s very much political.
- DelightOne 9y ago
  How does said party know why a specific voter voted for them, what their mandate is?
  - moonka 9y ago
    You have to let them know. Write and call your representatives.
    - DelightOne 9y ago
      My lobbying budget is quite small compared to others.
      - ergothus 9y ago
        (Regarding a generic "you":) If you've called your representatives, you gain my sympathy and concern. If you've assumed ten minutes a month isn't worth it, these arguments are not persuasive.
        DelightOne 9y ago
        And what impact does THAT have on anything exactly? I thought of a thing that might have at least a little. edit: I know I strode a little from the mandate part cause mandates may differ in relative importance for everyone.
        ergothus 9y ago
        Perhaps I'm not following your intention. I saw: Person A: voting helps You: How do they know why you're voting on this? Person B: You have to tell them You: But others spend more money and thus count for more Me: That's an excuse unless you've actually tried it (and if you have, yeah, that sucks) If I misread, my apologies - based on on your response it appears I have.
Tepix 9y ago
Of course you can do something. Buy organic. Support local beekeepers. I'm turning my lawn into a wildflower meadow.

castle-bravo 9y ago

A paranoid person might conclude that there's an industrial scale effort to distract the population from any issue that might be even tangentially related to their real interests; e.g. their survival and that of their children.

ergothus 9y ago
A more paranoid person might conclude humans are easy to be distracted by short-term entertainment/profit and handle long-term threats very poorly. It's not like climate change, mass extinctions, and environmental damage are unheard of - the vast majority of people have heard, but just don't care in ways that would make a significant difference. I'm doubtless among them even as I complain about it.
aeorgnoieang 9y ago
What would such a person consider to be the motivation of the people involved in such "an industrial scale effort"? Are the deceiver's real interests somehow not threatened? Are they literally not human? Or are they protected somehow from the issues that will kill everyone else?

thaumaturgy 9y ago

> I've seen reports on Kim Kardashian's fragrance bottle being shaped like her and Kanye private texts with John Legend about Trump As a start, I'd encourage you to choose different news sources, because I've no idea what you're referring to here and your comment on HN is the first I've seen of it (and thanks for that). I'm not being facile here; we need more people to stop consuming pop-culture "news" as a good first step towards solving important and difficult problems. Media will report on the subjects that people read, watch, and talk about. So, avoid the garbage.

justbees2 9y ago

This article was on the front page of The Guardian for much of yesterday, and is the fourth on the subject so far this year. They had something like 20 articles last year[1], it would be very difficult to miss. (I was about to praise them for not writing more about the latest celebrity baby, but they have, damn them. I was trying to go as long as possible without learning his name, and there it is in the "most read" section.) [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bees https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bees