I was reading in another group that the number of bees (especially honeybees) are decreasing. This frightens me as bees do so much of the pollinating necessary to sustain life. Any thoughts?

I read somewhere that cell phones are lowering the population of bees. Personally, my yard is still full of bees and wasps, so I am not seeing where the population is declining. My husband was stung just the other day just bending over to get something off the ground.
I do agree that they are very important to the environment, as are all animals. But, then I also wouldn't mind not having so many in my yard so I could go out there and enjoy the weather. I am allergic and I end up being chased back inside by them. lol

The question I guess comes down to is the decline (if there is in fact one happening) due to something humans are doing? Or is it something that Mother Nature is doing?
If it is something that we, as humans, are causing then I do believe that we need to correct that issue. If it is something Mother Nature is doing, then we as humans, should leave it alone.
I do know that right now it is undetermined what the cause is. So I think our scientists should be working on this (as I'm sure someone is somewhere) and see what they can find out.

There ws just something n the tv the other night about the being like a millionish less bees, all around the world than there had been. Something abut some mite that was introduced, go figure man screws up shit the balks! Then there is the whole African bee issue!

They were atlking about the impact of production of fruits and veggies that farmers depend on the bees for.

Naturally, it was more worry about the economic impact of the loss of the bees, than the reasoning for the loss, of course!

Here is a ink to a congressional hearing regarding this topic.

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ocga/testimony/Colony_Collapse_Disorder_and_Pollinator_Decline.asp

Here are some other links to topic:

http://www.pmac.net/birdbee.htm

http://www.inlander.com/inlandway/295938580629890.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator_decline

I think that hsould be enough info to verify that there is indeed a reason for concerns. think they'll try and fix it beofre it's a lost cause and we are a beeless world?

Thank you for the information Novia. The second link answered a lot of my questions that I had. Such as, are we destroying all their habitat and is that why they are declining? Are we killing them being humans and using chemicals on all our stuff? Etc.

I noticed in the last link "feral honey bee populations in the US have dropped about 90% in the past 50 years, except for the Southwest where they have been replaced by africanized bees. At the same time managed honey bee colonies have dropped by about two thirds." (quote from the site).

My question is, if we have noticed this decrease over the last 50 years, why didn't we start doing something abut it then? Instead of waiting so long and then flipping out because it didn't magically fix itself? (My own little issue I have with our scientific/government world..we see a problem but we will wait until it is completely out of hand before we address the problem).

Another question..50 years ago, what were we doing that could have started the decline? Were we beginning using chemicals at that time? Or other human causes happening at that time, more so than say even five years before then?

I think if those who are studying this problem looked at those things, along with the things that they are contributing this problem to, then perhaps they can figure out a cause and therefore a solution.
I do agree that destroying their environment and using pesticides has damaging affects. Common sense should have actually told people when they started those things, that the animals would be affected. But then, it comes down to the bottom line and how much easier it was/is to just see the money and not the environment.
I find it saddening that we as humans destroy shit and then sit back and wonder why we have so many problems and why our animals are disappearing.

And it doesn't surprise me that what they were talking about on tv was more about the money (always the bottom line) and not about why and how to fix the problem.

Sorry, I hope this makes some kind of sense.