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Way to go, Monsanto.

Air Pollution Impedes Bees’ Ability to Find Flowers

Air pollution interferes with the ability of bees and other insects to follow the scent of flowers to their source, undermining the essential process of pollination, a study by three University of Virginia researchers suggests.

Their findings may help unlock part of the mystery surrounding the current pollination crisis that is affecting a wide variety of crops. Scientists are seeking to determine why honeybees and bumblebees are dying off in the United States and in other countries, and the new study indicates that emissions from power plants and automobiles may play a part in the insects’ demise.

We used to have dozens of bumblebees every spring. One year they even nested in the wall of the house and used to come in to visit every day.

Now we have “the bumblebee,” one lonely fellow whose body is stunted and partially hairless, who flies around the yard all day. Honeybees are pretty much entirely gone.

We live between huge soybean fields sprayed several times every year with Roundup.  Every summer, the road between us and the field to our south is littered with dead butterflies.  We see squirrels with severe neurological damage, twitching and limping as they try to get to the bird feeder.  There are perhaps half the songbirds there were ten years ago.  The trees that line our driveway are dying.

Last updated on Monday, May 5, 2008