Country file stat casually thrown out..

[Ely]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw[/ame]

Sums it up far better than I ever could

 

[The Cumbrian]

if they still live in any part of the world then they can't be extinct as that word means no longer in existence

As you are almost certainly aware the term was being used sloppily. They should have said either extinct in Britain or locally extinct. Either of which would have explained the situation more clearly.

 

[REDWOOD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw

Sums it up far better than I ever could

Agree with the facts that global warming has now slowed down and the earth has not warmed up in the last 25 years and the hole in the ozone layer expands and contracts and many new species are found each year BUT whilst we are on this earth treat it with respect, pick up our mess, pollution and make it a cleaner place to live

 

[Into the lions den]

I have a gut feeling though that the current numbers are well under represented.

PH

Whatever the reliability of the old figures, the general concensus was, from all parties involved, that 275K is a significant OVER statement, but that because every other EU country was 'at it' we had to be too.

Much of this took place in the context of 'What happens when the bigger beekeepers give up?' with particular reference to over 25% of the known UK bees being operated by bee farmers over the age of 65. Linked to 'Where is all the insect pollination going to come from if the UK is to meet its targets for growing bio diesel crops?' Now that is a huge acreage and current hive numbers are a real issue if the best is to be got out of the areas to be grown.

Its all quite meaty stuff, and as the lead player for the BFA in this says, how can we know what to do if
a. We do not know how many colonies are there now, and
b, There appears to be no government policy on bee colony numbers.

So you can contact FERA or DEFRA for numbers, and apart from the apparently arbitrary figure from the NBU, which involves a lot of extrapolation and estimating the unknown colonies as a guessed at percentage of the known ones, there ARE no figures.

 

[will]

Didn,t they make a film about this when somebody from the future came back to destroy all Humans after what they had done to the earth, chap called reeves was in it

I think it would be better if us humans were extinct at least the planet could evolve naturally the way it should. We can not just leave things alone a finger in everywhere. It will utimately mean self destruction in a very short evolutionary time scale, unfortunately we will take everthing else with us.....

The vibes I got from the Bayer speaker was, we dont really care maybe it would be better for our company if bees where extinct then we could control some more... and develope more insecticides etc etc higher share prices more government investment until there is nothing left to spray and all we will have to eat is supplement pills.

Don't worry it may not be in our life time but it will come...

We cannot envolve as a spicies anymore as there is quite alot of preservation of sick people allowed to continually spread defective genes around to cause more sickness and suffering and more humans to experiment on with medical products.

The sooner we are destroyed as a resident species here the better for ourselves and everthing else, just take a look around you and see what we have done and how systematically we are destroying it.


Busy Bee

 

[BeeJayBee]

So you can contact FERA or DEFRA for numbers, and apart from the apparently arbitrary figure from the NBU, which involves a lot of extrapolation and estimating the unknown colonies as a guessed at percentage of the known ones, there ARE no figures.

Where would they get genuine figures from? There's no compulsory registration for 'hobby' beekeepers.

 

[Silly Bee]

Didn,t they make a film about this when somebody from the future came back to destroy all Humans after what they had done to the earth, chap called reeves was in it


Not quite what you had in mind I suppose but.

"You humans are like a cancer, that spreads and destroys everything it touches"

One of the Smiths, to Neo, (Keanu Reaves) "The Matrix"

 

[Skyhook]

Went to a talk by prof. Ratnieks of Sussex uni the other week. He reckoned that pollinator numbers in general are are fraction of what they were 50 years ago, but reckoned that was about right for the amount of forage. Look at most farms, acres of grazing rye and not a flower in sight...

.

 

[Ely]

The only difference between us and bacteria and many other life forms is that we are self aware and consious of our effect on the earth. We are just as natural. We will consume, breed to a point that we can't sustain our population and our numbers will dwindle. Just like bacteria eventually runs out of food and poisons itself on its own toxins. I don't go out of my way to do harm but I'm not going to feel guilty for being alive either.

 

[Hivemaker.]

The only difference between us and bacteria and many other life forms is that we are self aware and consious of our effect on the earth.

How do you know these bacteria and other life forms are not aware as well?

 

[Ely]

How do you know these bacteria and other life forms are not aware as well?

Hehe. Basic pre school biology

 

[REDWOOD]

The only difference between us and bacteria and many other life forms is that we are self aware and consious of our effect on the earth. We are just as natural. We will consume, breed to a point that we can't sustain our population and our numbers will dwindle. Just like bacteria eventually runs out of food and poisons itself on its own toxins. I don't go out of my way to do harm but I'm not going to feel guilty for being alive either.

China controlled it's population growth and the difference between us and bacteria is that we have the intelligence to adapt and over come problems like food shortages and pollution issues. Without innovation in farming techniques in Victorian times most of us would have starved to death all ready

 

[Hivemaker.]

the difference between us and bacteria is that we have the intelligence to adapt and over come problems like food shortages and pollution issues.

I would think bacteria are very good at adapting,much better than we will ever be,they were on this earth many millions of years before us... and will most likey still be around for millions of years after we become extinct.
Viruses are pretty good at adapting as well.

 

[oliver90owner]

Without innovation in farming techniques in Victorian times most of us would have starved to death all ready

You mean the population of the Earth would be self regulating, not doubling in an ever-shortening time frame. Human population increases are not sustainable, and probably not even sustainable at the present levels.

 

[For want of a better word]

It's a wonderful thing the English language

now you think a journalist with a mere BA in English would know the difference between extinct and extant ... would you not?

 

[madasafish]

China controlled it's population growth and the difference between us and bacteria is that we have the intelligence to adapt and over come problems like food shortages and pollution issues. Without innovation in farming techniques in Victorian times most of us would have starved to death all ready

Without advances in modern medicine, the world's population would be much smaller than it is today.

And thanks to abuse of modern medicine, we are helping bacteria to adapt to modern medicine..http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/08August/Pages/drug-resistant-superbug-in-UK.aspx

 

[REDWOOD]

now you think a journalist with a mere BA in English would know the difference between extinct and extant ... would you not?

Got the wrong end of the stick I was not referring to above only that extinct can be in an area

 

[REDWOOD]

Without advances in modern medicine, the world's population would be much smaller than it is today.

And thanks to abuse of modern medicine, we are helping bacteria to adapt to modern medicine..http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/08August/Pages/drug-resistant-superbug-in-UK.aspx

Sorry I never abused modern medicine, I was only referring to the fact that humans have the ability to adapt and over come problems that we might confront in the future and modern medicine will play a key roll in this as usual

 

[Poly Hive]

Drifted a fair distance here it seems?

BTW improvements in agri started long before the Victorians and the biggest in crease in productivity was due to the "little grey fergie" as it released the acreage tied up in feeding horses.

If it is correct that we have considerably less numbers than 50 years ago, could we now sustain them?

PH

 

[Ely]

China solved their population levels? I thought they just filled homes full of unwanted girls until they had a son. Greed will always overcome intelligence. Intelligence only powers us forward towards the end at faster rate. Populations work as a whole with almost a single mind and it doesn't matter what the individual thinks. As long as we are human, we will consume and breed and unless half of us are willing to jump of the nearest bridge to save the rest then there isn't much to be done. Earth is a finite energy source and we are the bacteria. The only way the human species can survive past earth is colonising another planet. We've kind of lucked out there though, I doubt earth has enough resourses to invest getting us anywhere.