And you thought Y2K was scary? Let's consider Y2B

We remember all too well the panic caused by the Y2K scare:

Laughable as it may seem in retrospect!

Though I am not asking you all to cash in your 401Ks (if anything is left of them!)! 
Or go completely Prepper; that is if you aren't already there.  
I understand that many of you are working your way toward a greater level of self sufficiency.

The thing is...

If we lose our B's the disaster will radically eclipse the Y2K scare! 

I'm referring of course to the humble Honey Bee

Granted they are not the only pollinator and in truth they are not even a Native American species (bet you didn't know that!)  

The Honey bee was brought from Europe with the early colonists. The Indigenous People, the Native American tribes, referred to the honey bee as 'the white man's stinging fly.'

Since that time the humble honey bee has woven itself into the fabric of our food sources to such an extent that without them we would loose most if not all ability to feed ourselves.

Our food crop production even with all the industrialization relies heavily on the efforts of the transient bee. 'Transient' not by choice but because the commercial bee keepers are forced to travel thousands of miles annually to supply enough pollinators to the various seasonal crops, from cranberries in Maine to almonds in the Central Valley of California and everything in between. Hauling our busy friends from coast to coast, occasionally overseas as well! 

Our food export economy is dependent on the services of the honey bee; most especially the almond industry. The US is the worlds leading supplier of almonds, therefore it is crucial to our national financial stability. 
Due to 'mono cropping' the local bee population has to move elsewhere during the non blooming season of the trees or they simply starve. 
In a very real respect mono cropped farming areas are bee deserts, they cannot survive.

We see endless fields of golden wheat; we hear our National Anthem!

The bees see a land barren of nectar, their only food source.

An example of 'mono cropping'

All this traveling stresses the hives, resulting in weaker bees which are then more susceptible to disease. Since bee keepers from all over the country reach these pollination destinations at the same season their bees rub shoulders and share whatever mite or virus as if one great 'Super Colony' thereby further weakening the individual hives and their individual colonies.
As a result over the past decade globally there has been a dramatic loss within the honey bee population. Bee keepers from every continent are taking drastic steps to restore and sustain the bee population with new regulations on the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Sadly the slowest to respond to this crisis is the United States of America.

Since there is no absolute answer as to the cause of this disaster known as 'Colony Collapse' I will not waste time pointing fingers, though systemic pesticides are a top contender in the lineup of evil doers, their manufacturers; Monsanto and Bayer are American based companies.

What I will say is that it is time to take action as individuals 

With the current fiscal climate in the US and globally the individual who seeks to extricate themselves from the industrialization of our food needs to give serious consideration to the plight of our pollinators.  

Consider keeping at the very least one hive for pollination and perhaps to sweeten the deal; a bit of honey.

Together we can make a difference! 

The answer is not for a few beekeepers to house hundreds or thousand of hives.

The answer is for hundreds of thousand individuals to house at least one hive.

Power is in the numbers.

Together we can avoid

Y2B