Tea at Trianon: How Almond Milk Kills Bees

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, January 23, 2020

How Almond Milk Kills Bees

From Deseret News:

The demand for almond milk has jumped by over 250% in the past five years, reports The Cut. The demand is so high that California beekeeper Dennis Arp told the Guardian he makes more than half his income from renting his hives out to almond groves. But in December he started to notice the practice was having a negative effect on his bees, and he wasn’t the only one. Beekeepers who loaned their bee colonies to almond farms were seeing record high bee deaths upon their return, according to the Cut. And that number may be as high as 50 billion bees just this winter, Delish reports.

Patrick Pynes, a beekeeper who teaches environmental studies at Northern Arizona University, told the Guardian the bees in almond groves were being “exploited and disrespected.” Senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity, Nate Donley, likened sending the bees to almond groves to sending soldiers off to war. “The high mortality rate creates a sad business model for beekeepers,” he told The Guardian. “It’s like sending the bees to war. Many don’t come back.”

But why are the almond farms so bad for bees? Scientific American reports that focusing on just almonds, or just any other one crop for that matter, prevents bees from getting the diversity of nutrients they need to be healthy, which makes them more vulnerable to disease and pesticides. The practice also requires beekeepers to pull their bees out of hibernation two months early, People magazine reported. This is the latest in a list of concerns for the bees, which have been suffering from a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder since 2006, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: ,,,and by the way, Almonds do not lactate so one should not call it 'milk'. It would be like calling olive oil, olive milk, or apple cider, apple milk...etc.
And those who believe climate change will cause a catastrophic end to our planet need to focus on the plight of bees. Their problems do not come from climate change. Polar Bears losing their environment due to climate change is not as catastrophic as the demise of Honey Bees which are relied upon to pollinate our plant life. But once it was put into people's minds that climate change is catastrophic then that is where the focus falls. There was a time when glaciers were as far down as our state of Kentucky. So the melting of glaciers is nothing new and is not catastrophic.; January 23, 2020 at 11:59:00 AM EST