By Andrea Germanos
Warning that threats including the climate crisis and pesticides are pushing the American bumblebee toward extinction, two conservation groups on Monday urged the Biden administration to give federal protections to the native pollinator.
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Daniel Raichel
Industry would have us believe that pesticides help sustain food production — a necessary chemical trade-off for keeping harmful bugs at bay and ensuring we have enough to eat. But the data often tell a different story—particularly in the case of neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics.
- Bees Face 'a Perfect Storm' — Parasites, Air Pollution and Other ... ›
- European Top Court Upholds French Ban on Bee-Harming Pesticides ›
- UK Allows Emergency Use of Bee-Killing Pesticide - EcoWatch ›
Like many other plant-based foods and products, CBD oil is one dietary supplement where "organic" labels are very important to consumers. However, there are little to no regulations within the hemp industry when it comes to deeming a product as organic, which makes it increasingly difficult for shoppers to find the best CBD oil products available on the market.
Spruce
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjI3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTM2NzgzOX0.axY0HjeqRctJsR_KmDLctzDpUBLBN-oNIdqaXDb4caQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="774be" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8379f35b1ca8a86d0e61b7d4bfc8b46e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="spruce organic cbd oil" data-width="710" data-height="959" /><p>As one of the best brands in the business, Spruce CBD is well-known for its potent CBD oils that feature many additional beneficial phytocannabinoids. This brand works with two family-owned, sustainably focused farms in the USA (one located in Kentucky and one in North Carolina) to create its organic, small product batches. The max potency Spruce CBD oil contains 2400mg of full-spectrum CBD extract, but the brand also offers a lower strength tincture with 750mg of CBD in total.</p>CBDistillery
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjkzNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTU4OTM4Nn0.ypRdeDSBcE87slYrFfVrRwtJ2qGIK6FD5jBB4pndTMo/img.jpg?width=980" id="b473b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9930b53c9d58cb49774640a61c3e3e75" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="cbdistillery cbd oil" data-width="1244" data-height="1244" /><p>All of the products from CBDistillery are <a href="https://ushempauthority.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">U.S. Hemp Authority Certified</a>, and for good reason. The company only uses non-GMO and pesticide-free industrial hemp that's grown organically on Colorado farms. Its hemp oils are some of the most affordable CBD products on the market, yet they still maintain a high standard of quality. CBDistillery has a wide variety of CBD potencies across its product line (ranging from 500mg to 5000mg per bottle) and offers both full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD oils to give customers a completely thc-free option.</p>FAB CBD
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDIwOTEyMn0.MlTjz096FJ0ev_-soK7_Z-FeQeJczWoeh9Qi9SSkHsY/img.jpg?width=980" id="04b26" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76aa4862f44603242e318982acea6646" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="fab cbd oil" data-width="800" data-height="800" /><p>For an organic CBD oil that has it all, FAB CBD offers plenty of variety for any type of consumer. All of its products are made with zero pesticides and extracted from organically grown Colorado industrial hemp. FAB CBD oil comes in five all-natural flavors (mint, vanilla, berry, citrus, and natural) and is also available in four strengths (300, 600, 1200, and 2400mg per bottle).</p>NuLeaf Naturals
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzExNTgyMX0.D6qMGYllKTsVhEkQ-L_GzpDHVu60a-tJKcio7M1Ssmc/img.jpg?width=980" id="94e4a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3609a52479675730893a45a82a03c71d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="nuleaf naturals organic cbd oil" data-width="600" data-height="600" /><p>As an industry-leading brand, it comes as no surprise that NuLeaf Naturals sources its CBD extract from organic hemp plants grown on licensed farms in Colorado. The comany's CBD oils only contain two ingredients: USDA certified organic hemp seed oil and full spectrum hemp extract.</p><p>NuLeaf Naturals uses one proprietary CBD oil formula for all of its products, so you will get the same CBD potency in each tincture (60mg per mL), but can purchase different bottle sizes depending on how much you intend to use.</p>Charlotte's Web
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjk3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQ0NjM4N30.SaQ85SK10-MWjN3PwHo2RqpiUBdjhD0IRnHKTqKaU7Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="84700" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2174067dcc0c4094be25b3472ce08c8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="charlottes web cbd oil" data-width="1244" data-height="1244" /><p>Perhaps one of the most well-known brands in the CBD landscape, Charlotte's Web has been growing sustainable hemp plants for several years. The company is currently in the process of achieving official USDA Organic Certification, but it already practices organic and sustainable cultivation techniques to enhance the overall health of the soil and the hemp plants themselves, which creates some of the highest quality CBD extracts. Charlotte's Web offers CBD oils in a range of different concentration options, and some even come in a few flavor options such as chocolate mint, orange blossom, and lemon twist.</p>- Best CBD Oils of 2020: Reviews & Buying Guide - EcoWatch ›
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The UK government is facing backlash after it approved the emergency use of a pesticide thought to kill bees.
- 15 Organizations and Initiatives Helping to Save the Bees - EcoWatch ›
- Pesticide Touted as Neonicotinoid Replacement Still Harms Bees ... ›
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- Neonic Pesticides Could Spell Disaster for Our Food Supply - EcoWatch ›
Trending
By Liz Kimbrough
Six grassroots environmental activists will receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in a virtual ceremony this year. Dubbed the "Green Nobel Prize," this award is given annually to environmental heroes from each of the world's six inhabited continents.
Kristal Ambrose, the Bahamas
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NzI3MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDM5NTk5MX0.fdMrrUqf0HvWq0Uh0Ii3mXxJczHPyN1jcnSsQoXoerE/img.jpg?width=980" id="b9e66" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b8b8777f7964bb7100672b3be0abf3fe" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2560" data-height="1707" />Kristal Ambrose. Goldman Environmental Prize
Chibeze Ezekiel, Ghana
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NzM2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTgzOTE3OX0.KoEZr3oMPKbeG2uT8q-ZsGPOGtIZ3l6V6NXEK5U90FU/img.jpg?width=980" id="65224" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6ec640a8ba56a4db22b57e4f8734a7a4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1687" data-height="2500" />Chibeze Ezekiel. Goldman Environmental Prize
Nemonte Nenquimo, Ecuador
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NzM2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MDY5MDYwM30.Iydovu8LuhGBIrjNnXYAcZlNtnG_hxibMETlBzSfOCA/img.jpg?width=980" id="c4793" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0778ab7334e3297e0ead52d5fd1499e5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2500" data-height="1666" />Nemonte Nenquimo. Goldman Environmental Prize
Leydy Pech, Mexico
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NzQwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzkzOTYzOH0.uHlN2FQoJJ_KFJWTn4oL__lDyjA0-HDnxewBhwgQRVg/img.jpg?width=980" id="9ab07" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ccc347126d4ce9ddbb3b9c1b4673391b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2500" data-height="1669" />Leydy Pech. Goldman Environmental Prize
Lucie Pinson, France
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NzQxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NzE0NTU1NX0.OutmX3sfl4pMaoYssTQ4zk7Y14_hans7-Z-0B0xsjfM/img.jpg?width=980" id="4bcd7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4bff14750dc0a70fc79e9484ea2bdbd4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2500" data-height="1666" />Lucie Pinson. Goldman Environmental Prize
Paul Sein Twa, Myanmar
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NzQxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDAyNjU0MH0.DHrKykngmcJyJ5rn4r91ANH7FmQ7Us6ZMEOis8yAzGY/img.jpg?width=980" id="8fa36" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0e703d62288df00931cd678c861c6e0b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2500" data-height="1668" />Paul Sein Twa. Goldman Environmental Prize
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Now that the campaign season is over, what do we do with all those political yard signs? Trash them? Keep them for memories' sake? Florida beekeeper Alma Johnson has a better idea: donate them to help keep her honeybee hives warm.
- This Dutch City Has Transformed Its Bus Stops Into Bee Stops ... ›
- 15 Organizations and Initiatives Helping to Save the Bees - EcoWatch ›
- Bees Face 'a Perfect Storm' — Parasites, Air Pollution and Other ... ›
The European Court of Justice on Oct. 8 found that France did not violate EU rules when it banned certain chemicals considered harmful to bees.
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- Low Doses of Pesticides Make It Harder for Bees to Find Flowers ... ›
- Paris to Transform Champs-Élysées Into ‘Extraordinary Garden’ - EcoWatch ›
- Neonic Pesticides Could Spell Disaster for Our Food Supply - EcoWatch ›
Bees Face ‘a Perfect Storm’ — Parasites, Air Pollution and Other Emerging Threats
By Jodi Helmer
Bees are facing a pandemic of their own.
A collection of threats — habitat loss, pathogens, pesticides, pollution and poor nutrition — have led to widespread decline in bee health and pollinator populations.
USDA photo by David Kosling
An endangered rusty patched bumble. USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Rick Brohn / USFWS
- 15 Organizations and Initiatives Helping to Save the Bees - EcoWatch ›
- Without Bees, the Foods We Love Will Be Lost - EcoWatch ›
- Coronavirus Lockdowns Keep Bees at Home and Put Crops at Risk ... ›
- Have Old Political Signs? Donate Them To Help Bees Stay Warm and Safe - EcoWatch ›
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Trending
By Leslie Brooks
More than 75 percent of the world's food crops rely on pollinators, according to the United Nations Environment Program. Through their pollination, bees not only promote biodiversity, but also secure our food supply.
But one in four species of bee is at risk of extinction in North America, according to the United Nations Environment Program. And the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has recorded declines in bee populations in Europe, South America, and Asia.
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- European Top Court Upholds French Ban on Bee-Harming Pesticides - EcoWatch ›
- Have Old Political Signs? Donate Them To Help Bees Stay Warm and Safe - EcoWatch ›
- UK Allows Emergency Use of Bee-Killing Pesticide - EcoWatch ›
Honeybee Venom Kills Aggressive Breast Cancer Cells, Study Shows
Could honeybees hold the key to treating an aggressive form of breast cancer?
A new study out of Australia found that honeybee venom rapidly killed the cells for triple-negative breast cancer, a type of breast cancer that currently has few treatment options.
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Trending
Honey Bees Can’t Practice Social Distancing, So They Stay Healthy in Close Quarters by Working Together
By Rachael Bonoan and Phil Starks
As many states and cities across the U.S. struggle to control COVID-19 transmission, one challenge is curbing the spread among people living in close quarters. Social distancing can be difficult in places such as nursing homes, apartments, college dormitories and migrant worker housing.
Life in a Crowd
<p>Honey bees, like humans, are highly social organisms. A honey bee colony is a bustling metropolis made up of of thousands of individuals.</p><p>Three "types" of bees share space inside the colony. The queen, who is the only reproductive female, lays eggs. Drones, the male bees, leave the hive to mate with queens from other colonies. Workers – sterile females – make up the bulk of the colony and do all the nonreproductive work. They construct wax comb, collect and bring back food, tend to the young and more.</p><p>Members of a colony work so well together that the colony can be referred to as a "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2008/11/29/97547749/the-secret-society-of-superorganisms" target="_blank">superorganism</a>" – a highly connected community that functions like a single being.</p><p>Being this social comes with many benefits: Just ask any single parent how helpful it would be right now to live in a community that featured cooperative child care! But it also imposes costs – notably, the spread of disease. Inside the hive, worker bees transfer nectar to each other, essentially swapping the essential ingredient for honey. They crawl on top of each other and bump into others all the time.</p><p>What's more, humans keep many honey bee colonies next to each other for agricultural purposes. This creates unnatural, densely populated "cities" of these superorganisms, where pests and disease can spread rampantly.</p>Social Immunity
<p>Like humans, individual worker bees have immune systems that recognize invading pathogens and fight to get rid of them. However, there are some classes of pathogens that the honey bee immune system <a href="https://insectessociaux.com/2018/11/02/honey-bee-immunity-more-specific-than-we-thought" target="_blank">does not seem to recognize</a>. Bees thus need a different tactic for fighting them.</p><p>For these threats, honey bees defend the colony via social immunity – a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00186" target="_blank">cooperative behavioral effort</a> by many bees to protect the colony as a whole. For example, worker bees remove diseased and dead young from the colony, reducing the likelihood of transmitting infections to other bees.</p><p>Worker bees also line the hive with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2010016" target="_blank">an antimicrobial substance called propolis</a>, made from plant resin that they collect and mix with wax and bee enzymes. Applied to hive walls and between cracks, this "bee glue" kills various types of pathogens, including the bacterium that causes a dreaded honey bee disease called <a href="https://beeaware.org.au/archive-pest/american-foulbrood/#ad-image-0" target="_blank">American foulbrood</a>.</p><p>Another pathogen, the fungus <em>Ascosphaera apis</em>, causes a honey bee disease known as <a href="https://beeaware.org.au/archive-pest/chalkbrood/#ad-image-0" target="_blank">chalkbrood</a>. Because the fungus is heat sensitive, chalkbrood usually does not affect a strong honey bee hive, which maintains its own temperature somewhere between 89.6 degrees F and 96.8 degrees F. But when a colony is small or the outside temperature is cool, as in an early New England spring, chalkbrood can become a problem.</p><p>The chalkbrood pathogen affects young honey bees, or larvae, which become infected when they are fed spores from infected food. It lies dormant in the larval gut waiting for the temperature to drop below 86 degrees F. If this happens, the pathogen grows inside the larval stomach and eventually kills the young bee, turning it into a white chalk-like mummy.</p><p>When this pathogen is detected, worker bees protect the vulnerable young by contracting their large flight muscles to generate heat. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s001140050709" target="_blank">raises the temperature in the brood comb area of the hive</a> just enough to kill the pathogen. (Honey bees use heat for many reasons: to optimize offspring development, to fight pathogens, and even to "<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/3/120316-hot-bee-balls-hornets-insects-brains-animals-science/" target="_blank">bake" invading hornets</a>.)</p><p>In a recent study, we investigated how the efficiency of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-020-00754-5" target="_blank">colony-level fever</a> might change with colony size. At the <a href="https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/starks/" target="_blank">Starks Lab Apiary</a>, we infected colonies of various sizes with chalkbrood and tracked the response of the colonies with thermal imaging.<br></p><p>Larger colonies successfully generated a colony-level fever to fight the disease. Smaller colonies struggled, but individual bees in the smaller colonies worked harder to raise the temperature than those in the larger colonies. Even if they fail, the bees don't cave in to fever fatigue by abandoning the fight.</p>In the Hive, Public Health is for Everyone
<p>Like honey bee colonies in agricultural fields, many humans live in extremely dense conditions, which has been especially problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic. The point of social distancing is to act as if we live in lower densities by wearing masks, keeping at least 6 feet away from others and allowing fewer people in stores.</p><p>Data from early in the pandemic show that social distancing was slowing the spread of the virus. But then humans became <a href="https://theconversation.com/complying-with-lockdown-does-become-harder-over-time-heres-why-138691" target="_blank">lockdown-fatigued</a>. By summer, many people were no longer social distancing or wearing masks; on average, individuals were <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/07/05/maskless-parties-and-crowded-beaches-across-us-as-coronavirus-spikes-over-holiday-weekend/" target="_blank">doing less to slow the spread of the virus than in April</a>. The five-day running average of new U.S. cases <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases" target="_blank">rose</a> from less than 10,000 in early May to more than 55,000 by late July.</p><p>Although honey bees cannot wear masks or socially distance, each individual worker contributes to the public health of the colony. And they all follow the same practices.</p><p>They also excel at making group decisions. For example, when it comes time to choose a new home, a worker bee who has checked out a new nest site <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/02/19/172385254/the-filibuster-solution-or-what-if-honeybees-ran-the-u-s-senate" target="_blank">dances to promote it to other bees</a>. The more suitable the site, the longer and harder she will work to convince the others.</p><p>If others express agreement – via dancing, of course – the colony moves to the new nest site. If the bees do not agree, that specific dance stops, that option eventually falls out of favor, and the search continues. In this way, only a group of informed supporters can win the day.</p><p>As many commentators have observed, the strong focus on <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/masks-coronavirus-america.html" target="_blank">freedom and individualism in American culture</a> has hampered the U.S. response to COVID-19. We see honey bees as a valuable counter-model, and as powerful evidence that social benefits require a community.</p><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachael-bonoan-387475" target="_blank">Rachael Bonoan</a> is an Assistant Professor at Providence College. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/phil-starks-412898" target="_blank">Phil Starks</a> is an Associate Professor of Biology at Tufts University.</em></p><p><em><strong>Disclosure statement: </strong></em></p><p><em>Phil Starks receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</em></p><p><em>Rachael Bonoan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/honey-bees-cant-practice-social-distancing-so-they-stay-healthy-in-close-quarters-by-working-together-141106" target="_blank" style="">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>- 15 Plants to Help Save Bees - EcoWatch ›
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Without bees, future generations may not be able to identify with adages like, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
Crop yields for key crops like apples, cherries and blueberries are down across the U.S. because of a lack of bees in agricultural areas, a Rutgers University-led study published Wednesday in The Royal Society found. This could have "serious ramifications" for global food security, reported The Guardian.
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The climate crisis has caused Japanese cherry blossoms to bloom in October and sped the arrival of spring in much of the U.S. But it turns out that humans aren't the only animals who can trick plants into flowering early.
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