I include below an excellent article from The Guardian , by Alison Benjamin, on the state of honey bees in the US, Europe and Asia. The problem is still very serious and scientists still have no consensus regarding the cause of this bee die-off. The article is very comprehensive, and this is because she has written a book with, Brian McCallum, called ‘A World Without Bees‘. This is a must-read piece for those who care about the fate of honey bees and would like to learn more about their over-worked, and vital presence in our lives and our dependence on them.

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Here is another nicely written article regarding North Atlantic Right whales and the Bush administrations determination to let them struggle. Oh, yes, and it’s also another slice right out of this government’s modus operandi, which is, let industry regulate itself, because it always does the right thing.  Mwa, haha.  Oh, and it’s also more feedback on the Bushies attempting to rewrite, ignore and/or suppress science.  I don’t know why any self-respecting scientist would work for this administration, except maybe to valiantly shine a light into the dark, dark caves of double-speak and propaganda these sychophants-to-industry have erected all over our federal government.  Anyway, these poor whales were nearly hunted to extinction and they haven’t bounced back yet.  Most scientists agree that it is very important to minimize collisions between ships and whales, and one way to minimize this is to have the ships obey slower “speed limits” in certain areas off the east coast.  Industry has not obeyed “voluntary” speed limits and is resisting the limits becoming law.  They say, in fact, that the boats should go faster through the whale habitats, so they have less chance of hitting them.  Hah!  So, as the article mentions, we all need to start speeding through school zones so we have less of a chance to hit any children that might be straggling around out there.  So, funny.  Not really.

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Butterflies are amazing, scientifically fascinating, beautiful creatures. Yes, of course I’m going to mention that their numbers are diminishing over the decades due to habitat loss and insecticide/herbicide use. This very good article, from The National Wildlife Federation covers the perils that these mighty lilliputians have experienced over the years as we humans have developed the land that used to contain their food plants. It also contains some heroic stories of individuals that have been responsible for saving some of these beauties from becoming extinct from the planet forever. These people are the thin line that is staving off humanity’s plunge into an Earth-wide extinction meltdown. If you want to help, the article also has links for some simple native plants you can grow in your yard to replenish their habitat. If we all did this in our yards, grow native plants and trees to feed the wildlife, provide water and shelter in the form of undisturbed areas and brambles, we could be a mighty force against habitat destruction. So, plant some milkweed for the monarchs!

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