The World As We Know It Will Soon End (Part 2)

As with the last post, this too will do with things that will be coming to an end. Unlike the last post, the tragedies of this list can be stopped with a little more care and insight. Some of this list requires more study to know the true nature of the problem.

Have you ever thought about the lowly Honey Bee. Being a gardener, I have. If you like apples, apricots, blueberries, cherries, all kinds of citrus, strawberries, cantaloupes, watermelons, or peanuts, you had better learn more about that lowly honey bee and the scourge that is about to wipe it out, CCD. CCD is better known as Colony Collapse Disorder. That's what has hit the Worlds bee colonies. CCD has wiped out up to 80% of the bee colonies in some parts of Europe and approximately 1/3 of the colonies in the U. S. Honey bees are absolutely necessary to pollinate many fruits and vegetables that you have in your house right now or will have this summer. In the near future the U. S. could lose up to $15 billion worth of crops annually and totally change the way we eat if we lose any more of these little creatures. To say nothing of the price of things that we can get. The Dept. of Agriculture has allotted $20 million over 5 years for research, but more . . . much more is needed. What's appalling is that we don't even know for sure why this is happening. We must get a handle on this one soon or our collective diets will have to change. For more go to:
www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bees.asp?gclid=CI_MwZeX2qACFUlP2godxEYwAw

The next on my list of loses in nature is the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab. This highly valuable crop is one of the best quality crabs in the U. S. and has been in decline for the past few years due to predation from invasive species, lose of habitat, pollution and climate changes. The 2007 harvest was 44.2 million pounds, down from 73million pound annual average and the lowest catch since 1943. Again the government doesn't seem to be able to put a finger on the solution but are working on it. For more go to: www.chesapeakebay.net/crabs.aspx?menuitem=14700

Next on my list of loses in nature is the Ash Tree. The north east has had a problem with the Emerald Ash Borer. This is a pest that seems to have hitched a ride on some lumber imported from Asia in the late 1990s. The EAB is threatening much of the ash trees in the north east and seems to be expanding their habitat. Fortunately, there are several solution to this one and the little pest is being eradicated as fast as it is discovered. For more information google/bing: Emerald Ash Borer

Now we come to our next lose . . . Wild Horses. Now let me explain to what I refer. There really is only one "Wild Horse," or a horse who's species have never been domesticated and is wild by nature. That is the Przewalski's Horse. This is not the kind of horse we in the U. S. have roaming around out west in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, parts of California, and Idaho. What we have are feral horses whose ancestors escaped from various farms, ranches, and Army forts, during the early frontier times out west. These feral horses once numbered 2,000,000 and now we might be lucky to have 20,000, or 1% of the original total. Many were killed, more were lost to disease, some recently were adopted to various private parties. But all these are no longer counted as being feral. There will always be some space to have feral horses but that space is rapidly becoming smaller. As soon as a feral horse is corralled for show it is no long a "Wild Horse." For more, go to:
www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/horse-cruelty/wild-horses.html

Next on our list is the Family Farm. Large Corporations have been dominating the market for some years now and driving the family farm out of business. The normal family farmer can only handle about three years of bad harvests or low prices before they have to fold. Large corporations that have farms in many parts of the country Can survive a bad harvest in Texas because they have farms in 18 other states and can absorb the small lose from a single area. The family farmer can't do that. If we aren't careful, the large corporations will dominate our food supply and can dictate the price we pay. The market will then have no effect. To really know the control a corporation can have over a food market, rent the movie "The Informer" about the inner workings of Archer Daniels Midland, a large worldwide agricultural corporation that can easily control the price of any thing they want. For more, go to:
www.showcase.netins.net/web/sarahb/farm/

Now to the lighter side of this list for today. Finally I've gotten to the local swimming hole. Like so many things these days, our litigious society has now run out of business so many small but meaningful little entertainments. You can't buy insurance on a rural swimming hole because if you could, it would cost a fortune. Just find out how much it cost in legal fees to defend yourself against a law suit for damages for a kid that broke their neck while jumping from a rope at the local swimming hole.

That is today's list. Tomorrow we will be looking at what will be missing from our future in the electronics and electrical industries.