Pesticides and Honey Bee death

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Last summer, I sprayed myself with Off one day while doing some work on the farm because of the proven presence of West Nile Virus on the farm. I was emptying out a horse tank, cleaning it out, and then refilled it along with a mosquito dunk to kill the mosquito larva.

While draining the tank, I went back inside and started working on something using a plastic clipboard. After a few minutes, I noticed that the bottom of the clipboard resting on my knee (I was wearing cutoffs) was getting rather slippery. It turned out the Off was literally melting the plastic.

I use Cutter natural,it works pretty good,a few get through.We also have West Nile in this area so I use the dunks in my water barrel.I like them,they only nail the wigglers,won't hurt fish or other water life.

No need to worry about the honey bee die-off, folks, because once they're gone, RoboBees will take their place. Monsanto, one of the companies that manufactures the pesticides responsible for the demise of honey bees (of course, they pump out plenty of propaganda that says otherwise) will be using them to pollinate their genetically modified crops. Before you know it, you won't be able to buy any produce in the U.S. that hasn't been grown from GMO seeds.

God bless corporate America!

My dad says he hasn't had many insects come to his garden to pollinate his plants, but I think it may have been due to the cold and very wet spring we had. Yesterday my mom said there hasn't even been a lot of houseflies buzzing around, which is unusual for my parent's house in the summer. You'd think she'd be glad we don't have the nastier bugs like flies crawling all over everything, oh how I used to hate that in the summer! Waking up in the morning and having the disease-carrying vermin crawling on your face, gross! But I do worry about the helpful insects that are good for gardens. mainly bees, butterflies, and ladybugs.

This article is interesting.Colony collapse disorder isn't happening as much,but bees are still in decline.
http://www.takepart.com/feature/2014/06 ... lling-bees

It was for these bees.

/\ /\ Now that is very sad. I haven't seen anything like that.

It bothers me to think kids will grow up and there's no lightning bugs,bumble bees and all the other cool stuff summer was about.Part of the awesomeness of summer was the bugs,some not so awesome like mosquitoes,why can't they be in decline?

Not as many lightening bugs here in Central Illinois as there used to be, in recent years. This year I've seen a few more than the last couple, but nothing like when I was kid and you could scoop up a handful when they were out in force.

Chemical fertilizers and pesticides, of course, have led to their demise, as well. Apparently too much outdoor lighting has contributed, also. The males have a hard time mating with the females when they can't see them blinking.

I'm lucky no light pollution here,and I don't put out chemicals,I get the same beautiful display that I remember from childhood.
There is an episode of the Oblongs that mentions lightning bugs.

There have been posters here that mentioned the loss of lightning bugs,my foster sister from 'Bama says there are none there.
Not like I'll loose sleep,I've got pills for that.

Just saw this article, it names the pesticide they suspect

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morn ... tional_pop