I live in Hawaii in a relatively rural place so we are used to seeing things like wild turkeys wandering around our neighborhood.  Yesterday a wild goat scampered across the street in front of my car to join its family on the other side.  The Big Island has wild pigs, cattle, goats, horses, mongoose, parrots and even donkeys.  (Not to digress, but Hawaii even has its own Bigfoot myths – two of my family members have personal stories about that.)  In suburban neighborhoods it’s not unusual for people to keep chickens or goats; the best eggs I ever had were from a friend’s backyard.  In fact the people across the street from us keep a goat as a lawnmower and have a beehive. 

 

They’ve given us some honey before; it’s wonderful.  I used to have a patch of mint that flowered and the bees just took over my garden.  One time a few months ago they swarmed, coming right up our driveway next to our porch.  We all ran inside, including the dogs, at a loss as to what might have upset them.

 

In the evenings lately I’ve noticed there is always one lone and angry bee buzzing around our porch light rather frantically, as if it’s bound and determined to go somewhere.  With all the talk about the bees disappearing lately, I always hope it will find its way home.

 

The bee apocalypse is hot news right now – truly a sign of the times.  So far no one is sure what’s going on - a virus, genetically modified crops, insecticides or maybe the effect of an increase in UV radiation which bees use to navigate.  People are quoting Einstein as having said, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

 

Next time I see my neighbor I will ask about the bees.  It’s important to know if they are still around, and we would miss them very much indeed if they weren’t.

 

 

Regarding my post yesterday on our neighborhood bees, I just spoke with my neighbor and got an update.   Although the beehive in their yard is still buzzing away (behaving strangely, though, he said they are circling in unusual ways for some reason), they have 60 other hives up north on the island, and are confused as to why 20 of them are suddenly gone, just in the past couple of months.  Nothing’s left, he said, no queen, nothing; just the cockroaches.  He didn’t actually realize it was happening all over the world and I think he was a little stunned.  He promises to talk to other island beekeepers to see if it’s happening to anyone else. 

 

Scary.

Aloha, here is a link to my interview with Occult of Personality.

From “The Measure of a Man: a spiritual autobiography” by Sidney Poitier,

“I simply believe that there’s a very organic, immeasurable consciousness of which we’re a part. I believe that this consciousness is a force so powerful that I’m incapable of comprehending its power through the puny instrument of my human mind. And yet I believe that this consciousness is so unimaginably calibrated in its sensitivity that not one leaf falls in the deepest of forests on the darkest of nights unnoticed.” pp.196-197

“The grand consciousness I perceive allows me great breadth and scope of choices, none of which are correct or incorrect except on the basis of my own perception. This means that the responsibility for me rests with me.” p.197

“The whole process of survival tells us that there’s a morality to [these] natural rhythms, and that this morality is woven into the fabric of nature. For humanity, part of that fabric is the higher consciousness I was speaking of earlier. I feel that to aspire to that higher consciousness is to align ourselves with the natural order – in essence, to let go of the self. When we do this, when we rid ourselves of the petty little ego-drives that get in our way, we find ourselves much more in tune with the natural harmony, and good things can happen.” pp.199-200

Sounds like Surfing the Tao to me!

"His Eye is on the Sparrow" ref. Mr. Poitier, p. 206

In the past week I’ve received several links from friends about the missing bees. The media continues to report on current research into the cause of the disappearance of bees from their hives around the world. Taiwan just announced the loss of over 10 million bees. The other day The New York Times reviewed various theories. One involves radiation from cell phone towers, and rumors abound as one might expect; people are blaming everything from terrorism to a ‘bee rapture’. (BTW, did you know the military is testing the use of bees for sniffing out bombs?)

Yesterday a press release from the Army announced several pathogens had been found to be potential culprits. Some have found evidence of a fungus; in Hawaii, the news is centering on a harmful mite, and bee colonies are now quarantined to prevent its spread. More information on current research can be found here. What’s interesting is that while most of these articles claim Colony Collapse Disorder is yet to be found in Hawaii, this article claims otherwise, and I’m going to pay attention especially since my neighbor lost 20 of his 60 hives here on the Big Island just in the past two or three months.

A friend reminded me of the importance of bees to our local coffee industry, among other crops. I can’t even begin to comprehend the disaster.