Last night I had a dream in which we were scientists. The world was falling apart and people were looking to us for answers. The disintegration started with the honey bees. In the first instance, scientists found high prevalence of Israel Acute Paralysis virus in colonies that had collapsed. I believed the solution to any problem in a system had to be a systemic one. My quasi eureka moment was splicing a gene from the Africanised honey bee to provide immunity against the virus. The virus was eradicated but the colonies continued to collapse.
The hopelessness I felt when confronted with the rising disorder of the universe seemed to settle in the well of my heart and I began to give up hope. No bees, no crops. In a world where technology ruthlessly ran away with itself, the pollination of flowers was still dependent of the honey bee’s exquisite dance from flower to flower. It was you who shared with me the words of Richard Rohr, that most of God's physical, animal and human world is on the verge of mass suicide and extinction. I could not see how this understanding could help the bees. Our suffering is a crisis of meaninglessness but bees have no meaning. The co-evolution of plants and pollinators was driven by the blind fingers of mutation and natural selection, groping unconsciously in the dark. This mutualism knows no love.
‘We don’t start with the bees, we start with ourselves’ was your mantra and though I could not see the connection, time proved you right. The collapse of the colonies was a direct result of man’s behavior on a delicate and sophisticated environment and by looking at ourselves we were able to pinpoint the exact cause. Yet it is one thing to identify a problem and another to remove it. We are reluctant to change.
Sometimes I go into the garden behind my new house and put on my UV glasses to see the world as the bees see it. I am glad that their low song drones on, it means the garden is exactly as I used to dream it when I was a girl. The bumble bees punctuate the lavender bushes and the honey bees drink from the Aster flowers. I think about you and how you showed me that my remote, impersonal, disinterested God was far closer than I ever could have imagined. When I cannot believe that there is an answer and give up, it is then that I allow him to break through.
Comments
poetjude | July 2, 2008 - 13:03
CCD is a very new phenomena (post late 2006) and GM crops have been widely grown since 1996. In addition, CCD has been observed in countries/ areas that don't grow GM crops so I think a causal link highly unlikely and my humble opinion is upheld by the vast majority of evidence. I suspect the cause when finally confirmed will be either directly or indirectly attributable to man's activities but I don't think GM is it!
jude
"Cacoethes scribendi"
http://www.judesworld.net
mykle | July 2, 2008 - 13:09
Great stuff, j! Left me feeling a bit like you were passing through a dark cloud though - so, in case you are...
In the darkness of the night glistering in his laser light.
The Lord of Lies strives to be king; plots to rule over everything.
Yet the sun shall rise and all will see the world is not sustained by he.
Birds and bees fly not through him, nor does he cause the fish to swim.
Another power - who like the sun - shines on you, on everyone.
Will return and remind us all - how blessed we were before the fall.
So let the Pretender have his day for his end is certain anyway.
Soon O Lord the blind may see that all we need is given free.
Realise what fools they be for all our blessings come from Thee.
As a matter of interest, so far as I can tell, the internet video of the same title has been withdrawn and I wondered if the whole issue was being side-lined because of the connection with GM crops...
(from Wikipedia) "The Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee recently published a letter to Senator Thomas Harkin on the web. They are of the opinion that "highly respected scientists believe that exposure to genetically engineered crops and their plant-produced pesticides merit serious consideration as either the cause or a contributory factor to the development and spread of CCD."
Nine literature references which might support this theory are cited."
Note CCD is Colony Collapse Disorder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
Holy honey, B-man.
A spiritual beekeeper in Serbia has built hives in the shape of monasteries and churches for his insects 'because bees have a soul too'.
Slobodan Jeftic is creating his 'holy honey' in the northern town of Stari Kostolac.
mykle | July 3, 2008 - 15:30
I wasn’t actually suggesting that GM crops were the cause of CCD – merely that the very suggestion is unwelcome at the moment with governments trying to overcome public resistance to GM crops as they believe (or so they say) that such crops may well help ease the global food shortages.
However, I think it will later become clear that a lot of GM crops have been hybridised by local farmers in places like India and the resulting seed grain sold on the black market... hence, it is very difficult to be certain where such unregistered GM crops might be growing!