Two bee, or not two bee

I made it to the Greener Spring Fair at Priestlands School and had a quick look round.  Spent a while at the Friends of the Earth stall talking to a colleague from work who was stationed there.  I signed their petition to try to get the government to do more to support Britain's bee population.  After all without bees it would cost British farmers £1.8 billion a year to pollinate their crops; a job currently done by bees at no cost.  Think of the impact that would have on food prices because a huge amount of the food we eat is reliant on bees to pollinate those crops.

Governments have long allowed chemical companies to pretty much do as they like; and what they like is profit.  Chemical companies have tried, and to a certain extent suceeded, to take over the world's agricultural economy, sometimes with disastrous consequences.  Farmer have to use the land that they have in the best way possible so that land will go on producing crops.  The type of soil that the farmer has pretty much dictates what can be grown and how it will be grown.  Farming in England is not the same as farming in South America.  The soil is different, the climate is different and the topography is different.  You can't farm the same way the world over, but the big chemical companies have been trying to force everyone to farm in the same way by using their expensive furtilisers, herbicides and insecticides.

The changes in the way that land is used, the loss of habitat, polution, insecticides, disease and the introduction of non-native plants and animals all have played a part in threatening the existence of bees, and many other species that are important to our ecosystem.  And that is without taking in to account Climate Change.

Our environment is one of the things that is poisoning us and contributing to diseases such as cancer.  Cancer has many causes and for me the way to deal with this disease also has to be multifaceted.  It is not just about conventional drugs and alternative therapies and a medical approach.  It is about the chemicals we use in our homes, that is in our food and the ways that we store and prepare that food.  We also need to take care of what we put on our body, as well as what we put in.  Evidently one of the most toxic perfumes is called Poison, and the parabens and other nastys in everyday products that we use for our personal care are also distrupting the hormones in our bodies, amongst other things.  These chemicals then get into the water supply so that even the water we drink is harming us.

We are dependent on this planet for our existence and the planet as we see it is largely the creation of humans.  We are the dominant species on this planet and have the greatest influence on its environment.  Maybe we should all be easier on the planet and not demand from it more than it has to give.  We all need to Bee kinder to it.