Vanishing of the Bees

I am in Claire Pentecost's course Knowledge Lab (KLAB) this semester. Last week we watched a documentary called Vanishing of the Bees, 2010. This documentary really put into perspective the essential role of pollenating insects, particularly the honeybee, for modern living. Modern agricultural practices are at incredible fault for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which is  the name for this irregular circumstance of the vanishing honeybees. Monoculture and the use of systematic pesticides are both incredibily unsustainable and impractical practices.

It makes me want to be a bee keeper! Except there are a lot of jurisdictions that have to be followed in the suburbs and especially in the city (a couple of years ago KLAB wanted to bee keep in the garden, but the school nixed that idea due to legalities haha). However there are organizations such as  the Chicago Honey Co-op. fNews in April 2011 actually did a whole article about Chicago Beekeepers entitled: BUZZZZZ(ED): CHICAGO BEEKEEPERS. Check it out!

I know a local bee keeping family from where I live in Barrington, Illinois and have heard about their struggles to keep their business going, and I knew it was because 'the bees are disappearing' but I wasn't sure why that was happening and this documentary has really sparked a new research interest for me. Here is the preview trailer from the website... I have an avi copy of it I could share with whoever wanted to watch the documentary (just bring your laptop and ask me in class, it is on my usb drive). Also Flaxman Library has a copy of the DVD: the call numbers is DVD 6068.

♥ moki