[url=http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/06/president-obama-initiates-a-pollinator-health-task-force/]President Obama: We will save the bees from extinction[/url].
I'm not one to say that everything the man does is stupid, corrupt, politically motivated or any of the other nefarious motivations that his non-stop detractors shout about incessantly. But bees? Now?
Yes, bee population decline is a serious matter for environmental, agricultural reasons and life in general. However, there are a lot of pressing (as in people are lying, people are dying) global policy and domestic policy issues that are all "up in the air" and in need of attention right now, and this one gets the "I have a phone and I have a pen" focus?
[quote]Now, the White House has developed a task force that will deal with dwindling honey bee population.
The task force will raise $8 million for new honey bee habitats. It is vital to take measures to improve the condition as already
their population has decreased by 23% and the population will decline even the more in next few months.
The raised funding will be given to farmers and ranchers in five states -- Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Using this money, they will come up with new honey bee habitats.[/quote]
I think that a kickstarter could and would have done this far better, faster and more efficiently than this.
But clearly, bees need cash in order to survive!
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>Saves bees thus saving humanity >People still hate him I'm seeing a pattern here.
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[quote]I think that a kickstarter could and would have done this far better, faster and more efficiently than this. [/quote] Of course it would have, Kickstarter raised millions of dollars for Reading Rainbow mere hours after it started. A Honeybee habitat would be no different.
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As a physical geographer, I can tell you that the decline of bees is a friggin' serious issue to the environment. But this does seem a odd way to approach it.
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[quote]"Don't you wanna know what happened to the bees? C'mon guys!"[/quote] With that out of my head now I would like to say the following: Even though most of my knowledge with the current trouble bees are having is anecdotal (father's stories involving an old friend from work being a fair sum of those anecdotes), I am still glad that there is some effort being put into assisting the bee population. Though I'd have to agree with some of the posters below that it would have been nice for this assistance to be more than just money.
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Edited by AnAverageGamer: 6/24/2014 2:26:21 AMThat article you linked didn't make it seem like much is being done immediately about it. It just says that this is going to be researched. [quote]In order to combat such stark realizations, President Obama signed an executive order calling for a “Pollinator Health Task Force”, which will research the declining population, educate the public on their findings, and foment public-private partnerships to help mitigate the problem. [b]Although the executive order was a victory for the environmentalist community, the President has taken a thorough, study-first-act-later approach that has frustrated environmentalists.[/b] Many activists believe President Obama did not go far enough, and are miffed that the President balked at halting the use of neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides linked with the collapse of honey bee colonies.[/quote] It doesn't seem like money is simply being thrown at the problem.
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That's ridiculous, like you said there's much more up in the air to be handled. Bees shouldn't be on top of the list to be handled.
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Yeah, hate on the guy who is trying to help future generations.
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"Beez 4 lyf 2014, never 4get" [spoiler]Seriously, people need to calm down, this is not that big of a deal. Yes if bees die, so do we. A majority of this is probably because of the EXTREMELY harsh winter the US just had. Why are people so touchy when it comes to a natural causes that cause this. This is a natural cause. Nothing to be alarmed about, the world changes. Even while we are here.[/spoiler]
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[quote]The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced $8 million in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) incentives for Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, [u][b]South Dakota[/b][/u] and Wisconsin farmers and ranchers who establish new habitats for declining honey bee populations. More than half of the commercially managed honey bees are in these five states during the summer.[/quote] I talked about this program on my Radio Show about 3 months ago. South Dakota lost 44% of it's CRP in 1 year. Habitat is crucial for more than just birds and animals.
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[quote]But clearly, bees need cash in order to survive![/quote] They need 'bout tree fiddy.
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What about the birds?
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Donna Noble was right...
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We have plenty of other distractions from our machinations of war if this one isn't satisfactory. How about a social justice story, or perhaps something on race relations? Here at the White House, we aim for you to please.
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Sir, sir!! ISIS is up in arms and... Holy [i]-blam!-[/i] Preston did you know bees are going extinct?! Sir? [i]Damn[/i] it Preston, the bees. The little [i]-blam!-ers[/i] are dropping like flies and it is my job as president of the United States of America to do somethin' bout it! Yes but sir there are people dying over there! [i]-blam!-[/i] the people Preston, it's up to us to save those little buzzing [i]bastards[/i]. What do you think will happen if we don't save them? How the [i]hell[/i] you gonna have the talk about the birds and the bees without no godt [i]damn[/i] bees?! Now I don't know bout you but I'm gonna do somthin' bout it!!! *sigh* Yes sir.
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What are bees?
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I've not been following the Bee die off nearly as much as I should have been. Is it just European honeybees, or all bee species?
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*virtual bees in Destiny*
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IMO, I would rather spend cash now and try to save the bees then try to save them when it is almost too late.
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I'm thinking they are doing something about it because there is a decent plan of action and it isn't expensive in the grand scheme of things. I doubt we are losing any resources to this that could be better used elsewhere. From what I can see the task force is just there to raise money.
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Is it government money for bee farmers? Or just projects? I don't get it. This is why I stay out of political talk.
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I don't see what the problem is.
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[I] [/I] [b] [/b]
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I'm with ya. We lose bees, we -blam!- up a lot of things in nature, and we will feel the effects. But there are other things that we need to do, like not invading, not being a global police force, and fixing our own issue before we try to force ideals on others. I'm kind of curious as to what's causing the decline though.
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Edited by b0t: 6/22/2014 9:40:58 PMYou can thank Monsanto, the main cause of unethical agricultural practices that causes bee extinction, and Obama's corporate owner.
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First you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women.
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Hobbyist beekeeper here, I've had four hives over the course of three years, I lost one to a bear, one to winter, one to colony collapse (what Obama is talking about) and one to another bear. It's an issue for sure, but beekeeper a with better setups than myself have been fine, it's just easier to lose a hive than ever before.