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Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

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Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#71

Post by mceoin »

A number of people have mentioned varroa mites and the problems they cause for domestic and wild bee populations. For those interested mycologist Paul Stamets has been trialing the addition of polypore extract to bee food (water / sugar water) to boost their immune system. Results on smaller sample set (~100 hives) was near total eradication of the mites (I think broken wing disorder was diminished too). Next trial is on sample size of 10k+ hives.

Since domestic and wild bees comingle this should reduce transmission from domestic to wild bee populations, and hopefully give wild bees a chance to recover.

For those interested you’ll be able to find Stamets talking about this on YouTube in his talk “Into The Mycoverse”, and elsewhere, I’m sure.

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#72

Post by Not_a_pizza »

wodenokoto wrote: post #68
tptacek wrote: post #67

Your periodic reminders that: 1. Honey bees in North America are a non-native invasive species. 2. Virtually all honey bees in the United States are livestock. 3. Colony collapse disorder is an economic issue for commercial beekeepers, and apparently not much of a problem. 4. The true threat to honey bees in the United States isn't environment, but rather the introduction of the Varroa destructor mite in 1987 (which…

About number 3, according to wikipedia [1] > the total U.S. crop value that was wholly dependent on honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed $15 billion. and > honeybees perform some level of pollination of nearly 75% of all plant species directly used for human food worldwide. Which sounds like a bit more than just beekeeping. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder#Econo...

Is there some real figure which would give truth to the amount other insects would pollinate, if not honey bees? It seems like we have way too many insects in the world for the honey bee to be the only reliable pollinator.

Besides, aren't solitary bees supposed to be better pollinators?

As much as I like honey, I can't help but thinking there is a huge gap in logic with all of these people waving and screaming we aren't going to have food because of dwindling honey bee populations.

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#73

Post by OJFord »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #59
rootusrootus wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something I have never really understood. If your neighbors can hear or smell your hobby, then you are not really staying contained on your own property and neighbors who complain are not trampling your liberties, just asserting their own.

Not whining over the slightest inconvenience is part of existing in civil society. Complaining about your neighbor using an air hammer on steel at 11pm, ok. Complaining about your neighbor using an air hammer on steel at normal hours = not ok. It all comes down to being reasonable and in middle upper class suburbia the Overton window of what is reasonable has moved to favor the complainers over the people who want to…

But the line is broad, grey, and subjective.

Which is why we have officials with letterheads to mediate.

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#74

Post by noblethrasher »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #47
avar wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want tax dollars to support a cause, then vote for it. This is literally what people have voted for by having tax deductions for certain "good" things, like giving to charity, using some of your land for bees or whatever. Just because it's agreed that something should be done in the aggregate, doesn't mean that it needs to be centrally managed by some state agency. You decide X is wanted, and then leave the…

I think it's easier to hold fewer larger entities accountable, assuming we mandate transparency, than many small ones. Increasing complexity always benefits the seller (politicians and their influencers). Ideally, all tax receipts would go into one pot, and then all expenditures would come out of it, so it's simple to account for. We have a system that enables "donations" to religious tribes in exchange for political…

In a healthy economic structure, most of the power would be in the middle class (i.e. the distribution of economic power is a bell curve). If we had that instead of the current power law distribution, then tax incentives would work simply because they would directly reflect with will of the people: The fat part of the curve -- representing the average -- would be able to out-vote and out-spend everyone else.

Trying to control the behavior of giants that are smarter and stronger is probably hopeless, so our focus should be on getting the economy back to normal (pardon the pun).

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#75

Post by kurthr »

mceoin wrote: post #71

A number of people have mentioned varroa mites and the problems they cause for domestic and wild bee populations. For those interested mycologist Paul Stamets has been trialing the addition of polypore extract to bee food (water / sugar water) to boost their immune system. Results on smaller sample set (~100 hives) was near total eradication of the mites (I think broken wing disorder was diminished too). Next trial i…

The first article I found discussed fungus extracts for virus treatment... I didn't see anything about mite eradication, but that would be a really big deal!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8#ref-CR20

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#76

Post by mixmastamyk »

adolph wrote: post #42
sagebird wrote: post #35

This article is a bit superficial. CCD is more than just pesticides killing bees. The invasive varroa mite is likely a big factor. It’s a good thing that he is taking care of bees. The solution might be more complex than sanctuaries though— IE how can we reduce the mite population? Potential CCD Causes According to EPA: ... researchers who are leading the effort to find out why are now focused on these factors: Incre…

I like bees, but aren't they effectively an invasive species too? When temperatures increased, fauna and habitat changed drastically, causing the extinction of Apis in the New World until they were reintroduced by European settlers in 1622 (Engel et al. 2009). https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/9700...

What about those "africanized" honey bees in the news a decade or so back?

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#77

Post by vvanders »

rootusrootus wrote: post #66
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not whining over the slightest inconvenience is part of existing in civil society. Complaining about your neighbor using an air hammer on steel at 11pm, ok. Complaining about your neighbor using an air hammer on steel at normal hours = not ok. It all comes down to being reasonable and in middle upper class suburbia the Overton window of what is reasonable has moved to favor the complainers over the people who want to…

Conversely, having some consideration for your neighbors is part of existing in civil society. I live in a neighborhood that very closely fits the definition of upper middle class suburbia, and the power balance is most assuredly not in favor of complainers. Quite the opposite in fact. I also think you do a disservice to this discussion by suggesting it is just innocent people going about their lives that are being h…

You haven't lived next to retired people with nothing but free time on their hands.

A large part of us moving out of the suburbs and somewhere rural was the adjacent retired neighbors always being in our business. I'm all for being a considerate neighbor but there's little substitute for a lot of space between you and your neighbor.

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#78

Post by mixmastamyk »

ada1981 wrote: post #40

🇺🇸 I met Morgan Freeman at a screening of Bucket List in DC. I asked him if we could play Rock Paper Scissors. He said he didn’t know how. So I taught him. He then told me what he was going to throw. I told him he shouldn’t do that. Then I beat him. So I both taught and beat Morgan Freeman at Rock Paper Sissors.

Fun story. Btw, is that an emoji? Thought they were stripped from input.

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#79

Post by likpok »

wodenokoto wrote: post #68
tptacek wrote: post #67

Your periodic reminders that: 1. Honey bees in North America are a non-native invasive species. 2. Virtually all honey bees in the United States are livestock. 3. Colony collapse disorder is an economic issue for commercial beekeepers, and apparently not much of a problem. 4. The true threat to honey bees in the United States isn't environment, but rather the introduction of the Varroa destructor mite in 1987 (which…

About number 3, according to wikipedia [1] > the total U.S. crop value that was wholly dependent on honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed $15 billion. and > honeybees perform some level of pollination of nearly 75% of all plant species directly used for human food worldwide. Which sounds like a bit more than just beekeeping. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder#Econo...

> honeybees perform some level of pollination of nearly 75% of all plant species directly used for human food worldwide.

Bees pollinate 75% of species, but not 75% of calories. The major cereals (wheat, corn, rice) are all self or wind pollinating, as are number of other staples (e.g. potatoes, peas).

Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary

#80

Post by likpok »

Not_a_pizza wrote: post #72
wodenokoto wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About number 3, according to wikipedia [1] > the total U.S. crop value that was wholly dependent on honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed $15 billion. and > honeybees perform some level of pollination of nearly 75% of all plant species directly used for human food worldwide. Which sounds like a bit more than just beekeeping. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder#Econo...

Is there some real figure which would give truth to the amount other insects would pollinate, if not honey bees? It seems like we have way too many insects in the world for the honey bee to be the only reliable pollinator. Besides, aren't solitary bees supposed to be better pollinators? As much as I like honey, I can't help but thinking there is a huge gap in logic with all of these people waving and screaming we are…

Realistically, the only plants which rely on honeybee pollination are from eastern europe, since that's where honeybees lived before the indo-european expansion.

So any plant that's say native to the new world (corn, beans, squash, tomatoes) must not rely on honeybees for pollination.

This is not to say that there's not a bee problem: non-honey bees suffer from habitat loss (and a lack of investment keeping them around).

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