Earth Day Sale
A.V. Walters
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade. But really? I have a little trouble with the whole concept of ethical consumerism. Consumerism is the problem. I cannot celebrate it by putting a positive spin on it.
Sure, when you shop, buy smart. Do your research. Reuse, reduce, recycle. (And don’t forget repair!) I’ve never seen shopping as a leisure activity. I have a nice lifestyle–most of what I buy is food. My main purveyor of non-food items is craigslist. Nothing pleases me more than to find someone else’s cast-offs, repair them and give them new life.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I know it’s coming. I’m bracing myself for the Earth Day Sale–or a two-fer-one, or all-you-can-eat Earth Day restaurant coupon.
In the meantime, it’s Earth Day. Go outside. Pick up some litter–and make sure that you recycle it. I’m getting ready for our annual tree planting extravaganza. But today I’m doing bee events. Let’s all raise awareness of our precarious place on the planet and our individual, and singular role is setting things right.
Save the bees.
tworockchronicles 
I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. The sales are bound to come.
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I have the same take on things, celebrities who fly in their jets to receive awards for global warming. Really? I can’t believe how many trash cans are in front of houses on trash day.
Sigh.
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Wish I’d been there to hear your presentation today, AV. Happy Earth Day! But, even at the risk of repeating what you’ve already said today, here’s the thing… You and I have known for years that honey bees are in trouble; but only because Beekeepers are there to witness and record. But we – ALL of us responsible humans – must think, not just of the managed species, but ALL Pollinators – and particularly wild populations – because what adversely affects the Honey Bee does not simply stop with one species of insect, fish, fowl or mammal; but affects them/ US/ all living creatures. Bees, butterflies & moths, birds, bats; all are in trouble; sickening and in decline… Contamination in every thing that goes into the food chain becomes more concentrated the higher it goes, and people need to know that anything which has an effect on the the “lower” species will also affect us at the top.
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Absolutely. But I choose to focus on the species down the food chain. I am really tired of humans who don’t think climate change is serious –because they don’t see how it’ll affect THEM. I prefer to see it as that which affects the small species is enough to make me care. I don’t need to wait until the sword is over my neck.
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Just because you don’t “see” the bus before you step out, it’ll kill you just as dead; )
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*Directed at those who refuse to see, of course… ; )
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I take your point that real ethical consumerism is minimizing purchasing of new things. For me, that part is a given and the real work comes in with making the best choices of the things that we do buy from time to time (food being the dominant item of course). Please take a look at my 3 posts on bees if you’d like to do some reading on the scientific evidence (and some of the corporate manipulation of the truth that has gone on). Here’s part 1: https://greenstarsproject.org/2017/04/29/honey-bees-neonicotinoids-imidacloprid-lethal-dose/
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I agree with you that we need to make careful decisions with our dollars–to support our values. My issue is that American “shopping bug” that sees retail as therapy (or anesthesia) and disposes of most of what’s purchased before the end of its useful life. I have an acquaintance who fancies dresses. She assures me she buys as green as she can, but at one point she revealed that she has about 200 dresses! Excess is never green–no matter how you package it. So my point is that we need to look at our own purchasing tendencies to see what need is being filled. Is it legitimate or is it to address some other (usually emotional) unmet need.
I loved your articles on the bees. I have done much of the same research on neonics–as well as some other types. I note your comment on fungicides–and I know from experience that bees gather and use fungus in the hive in a number of specific ways. Yet another avenue for accumulating toxins. Note also that many pesticides are lipophilic, and build up at a higher rate in the beeswax–thus exposing eggs and larvae to higher levels of toxins that experienced by the adult bees.
I believe that our bee losses are part of a larger problem in the environment. Pesticides are certainly a factor. (Oddly, herbicides may also be a factor, as they saturate soils and damage soil biota–including beneficial fungus, some of which are consumed by bees. Nutrition is also a serious issue. Especially for pollinator bees, who are trucked from crop to crop–they’re exposed to dietary limitations imposed by the monocultures to which they’re exposed (not to mention the pesticides, and the fact that pollinator bees are frequently fed sugar water instead of a natural diet. These nutritionally weakened bees become a perfect breeding ground for varroa mites, tracheal mites and the various virus and bacterial diseases that they carry. Add to that, the fact that climate change seems to also be taking a toll–in three ways that my beekeeper friends have noticed. Bees can overwinter in really cold temperatures. However, they are susceptible to losses when there are more extremes in temperature–polar vortex weather than fluctuates with strange mid-winter warming trends. Also, longer, warmer autumns pose a challenge because the customary forage products have reached the end of season, but the temperatures are keeping the bees active–and consuming their stores at the active levels. We wonder if this is contributing to a relatively new phenomenon–that of the late season swarm. A late season swarm is devastating because the swarming bees have no chance of relocating and rebuilding in time to survive the winter. The bees left behind are often too small in numbers to form clusters large enough to maintain temperatures during the winter. So a late season swarm in an otherwise healthy hive spells doom for all them. And finally, there is evidence that while increased levels of CO2 create lush growth, it may also result in decreasing protein levels in pollen. Studies comparing historical levels of pollen in goldenrod as compared to current pollen protein levels show significant decreases. It is assumed that the mechanism for this drop is working on other plants as well, though there is not a wide range of samples of historical pollen to test this across the board.
In sum, the bees, and their less observed native pollinating cousins are in trouble. Studying bees is a good measure of the impact on all pollinating species, as they seem to be affected in similar ways to the effects of pesticides. We had better do something to help the bees, or we may find, down the road, that we won’t have much left to eat.
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