7 ms·

It's unsettling that we're both so eager to save the bees, and so eager to save our kids from ticks.

by digitalsushi 7y ago

frgtpsswrdlame 7y ago
Why? Ticks are a disease vector and unlike bees their population is increasing due to milder winters.
- macawfish 7y ago
  Surely that's a factor, but habitat fragmentation and loss of biodiversity are also very important, and are directly related to the loss of bees. Killing "the disease vector" doesn't heal the root problem, which is rampant, culturally and economically endorsed destruction of ecological diversity and the environments that foster it. This is happening on multiple fronts, climate change being one of them. I agree with the poster who advocated chickens and possums... except that I'd go much further than just chickens and possums. We also need to dramatically rethink the way development happens. And further incentivize land rehabilitation and polyculture farming methods such as permaculture. https://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/biodiversity-impacts-lyme-disease https://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/biodiversity-impacts-... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382467/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382467/
kidsFromTicks 7y ago
You're right. Just let the diseases flow. I relish the sight of diseased children, it's fucking awesome. Side note: I also make my kids eat slugs off the ground ostensibly to toughen them up, but really I'm gunning for the brain parasites, just because I think it's cool when kids catch brain parasites. It feels like life is just that much closer to a sci-fi/action thriller.
pjc50 7y ago
How are these related?
- sjg007 7y ago
  They are somewhat opposed to each other. You spray pesticides and mow to keep ticks down. You don't want to spray pesticides on bees and natural landscaping features taller grasses / plants etc... that provide cover for ticks, not to mention rodents etc... You also want to spray and or mow to keep mosquitoes down. You can mitigate impact on bees by spraying at dusk/night and avoid spraying flowers.
ryanmercer 7y ago
If we let bees die much more than they already have, current farming becomes infeasible not only because other pollinating species can't pick up the slack but because modern farming actually relies heavily on driving bees around in absurd numbers on flatbed trucks going from farm to farm. If we can promote wild populations, it's a very good thing for not only humans but countless other species.
badwolf 7y ago
Get more chickens or possums to eat the ticks!
- macawfish 7y ago
  I agree! Our approach to ecological ailments should always be to foster stable ecological diversity!
moate 7y ago
I don't know that it's "unsettling". Both of those seem like objectively good things. The fact that it can be difficult to do both simultaneously is definitely "a thing" but I don't believe it's unsettling. "Difficult to balance" maybe? Unless you feel that either A- Saving Bees is bad or B- Killing ticks is bad?
- macawfish 7y ago
  I feel that C- killing ticks with ecologically destructive methods is ridiculously ignorant.
  - moate 7y ago
    But that doesn't mean that it's "unsettling" that we want to save bees, which is what that statement implies.
    - macawfish 7y ago
      I understood them to be saying they were unsettled by the dissonance of it.
      - moate 7y ago
        I believe that you read it that way. I believe that it's a difficult to understand sentence that doesn't appear to properly articulate the message the writer was attempting to convey and that maybe different word choice would provide greater clarity to their point and further the overall discussion. TL;dr- we deep enough down the semantics rabbit hole and I'm tapping out. Words, amirite?
        macawfish 7y ago
        U r rite
macawfish 7y ago
I'm also unsettled. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say something very bold. I believe that these are all cut from the same cloth: conventional, extermination focused approaches to "invasive species"; old-school germ theory approaches to infection; peoples' crass approaches to refugees. https://youtu.be/GFB-d-8_bvY?t=36 https://youtu.be/GFB-d-8_bvY?t=36

It's unsettling that we're both so eager to save the bees, and so eager to save our kids from ticks.

frgtpsswrdlame 7y ago

Why? Ticks are a disease vector and unlike bees their population is increasing due to milder winters.

macawfish 7y ago
Surely that's a factor, but habitat fragmentation and loss of biodiversity are also very important, and are directly related to the loss of bees. Killing "the disease vector" doesn't heal the root problem, which is rampant, culturally and economically endorsed destruction of ecological diversity and the environments that foster it. This is happening on multiple fronts, climate change being one of them. I agree with the poster who advocated chickens and possums... except that I'd go much further than just chickens and possums. We also need to dramatically rethink the way development happens. And further incentivize land rehabilitation and polyculture farming methods such as permaculture. https://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/biodiversity-impacts-lyme-disease https://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/biodiversity-impacts-... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382467/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382467/

kidsFromTicks 7y ago

You're right. Just let the diseases flow. I relish the sight of diseased children, it's fucking awesome. Side note: I also make my kids eat slugs off the ground ostensibly to toughen them up, but really I'm gunning for the brain parasites, just because I think it's cool when kids catch brain parasites. It feels like life is just that much closer to a sci-fi/action thriller.

pjc50 7y ago

How are these related?

sjg007 7y ago
They are somewhat opposed to each other. You spray pesticides and mow to keep ticks down. You don't want to spray pesticides on bees and natural landscaping features taller grasses / plants etc... that provide cover for ticks, not to mention rodents etc... You also want to spray and or mow to keep mosquitoes down. You can mitigate impact on bees by spraying at dusk/night and avoid spraying flowers.

ryanmercer 7y ago

If we let bees die much more than they already have, current farming becomes infeasible not only because other pollinating species can't pick up the slack but because modern farming actually relies heavily on driving bees around in absurd numbers on flatbed trucks going from farm to farm. If we can promote wild populations, it's a very good thing for not only humans but countless other species.

badwolf 7y ago

Get more chickens or possums to eat the ticks!

macawfish 7y ago
I agree! Our approach to ecological ailments should always be to foster stable ecological diversity!

moate 7y ago

I don't know that it's "unsettling". Both of those seem like objectively good things. The fact that it can be difficult to do both simultaneously is definitely "a thing" but I don't believe it's unsettling. "Difficult to balance" maybe? Unless you feel that either A- Saving Bees is bad or B- Killing ticks is bad?

macawfish 7y ago
I feel that C- killing ticks with ecologically destructive methods is ridiculously ignorant.
- moate 7y ago
  But that doesn't mean that it's "unsettling" that we want to save bees, which is what that statement implies.
  - macawfish 7y ago
    I understood them to be saying they were unsettled by the dissonance of it.
    - moate 7y ago
      I believe that you read it that way. I believe that it's a difficult to understand sentence that doesn't appear to properly articulate the message the writer was attempting to convey and that maybe different word choice would provide greater clarity to their point and further the overall discussion. TL;dr- we deep enough down the semantics rabbit hole and I'm tapping out. Words, amirite?
      - macawfish 7y ago
        U r rite

macawfish 7y ago

I'm also unsettled. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say something very bold. I believe that these are all cut from the same cloth: conventional, extermination focused approaches to "invasive species"; old-school germ theory approaches to infection; peoples' crass approaches to refugees. https://youtu.be/GFB-d-8_bvY?t=36 https://youtu.be/GFB-d-8_bvY?t=36