Society Collapse Disorder

I’m taking a University distance education course on Bees this winter so expect a few bee related posts. This one comes from a phenomenon concerning honey bees called Colony Collapse Disorder.

In CCD large amounts of bees disappear from the hive resulting in its non-viability. In light of the bees eusocial society I can see why this phenomenon is so disconcerting to beekeepers. I also think maybe it should be disconcerting for sociologists. A eusocial society is the ultimate expression of all for one.

No one really knows what is causing CCD. It’s not like the hives are full of dead bees or surrounded by dead bees, the bees simply disappear - apparently abandoning the hive and their queen. It is known that the colonies that fall prey to CCD usually have a variety of stressors present and this is where I think sociologists should pay attention.

Honey bee hives today face an ever increasing variety and intensity of stressors – constant movement of bees used as pollinators, GM crops, new pesticides (in particular neonicotinoids, unprecedented levels of radiation and new natural pests (varroa mites, nosema).

We don’t live in anything approximating the strong bonds of a eusocial society but I do see the ever increasing and variety of stressors also affecting humanity – GM foods, the chemical soup we call modern living, the magnification of background radiation and what seems like an awful lot of allergies.

Some biologists say the bees are to the environment what the canary was to a coal mine. For humans I say look at our reproduction. Not so long ago we were desperate for birth control but today who doesn’t know a couple, or a couple of couples, who have invested thousands of dollars in fertility treatments?