SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Today, we focus on the Wild Bee Crash.
Wild Bee Population Collapses by 90% in New England
We’ll start out today with this from reader H.L.: Wild Bee Population Collapses By 90% In New England, Study Warns. A snippet:
“Researchers from the University of New Hampshire conducted a study to document declines in about 100 wild bee species critical to pollinating crops throughout New England. What they discovered, according to the study, was a collapse in the wild bee population across the state, reported AP.
Researchers analyzed 119 species in the state from a museum collection at the college dating back more than a century. Sandra Rehan and Minna Mathiasson published the study in the peer-reviewed journal called Insect and Conservation Diversity this month. They concluded 14 species found across New England were on the decline by as much as 90%. Several of the species include leafcutter and mining bees.”
Patriots Day Remembered
Reader Tim J. recommended this video by Reid Heinrichs: The Shot Heard ‘Round the World: Lessons for today from Lexington and Concord. Hee also recommend this great essay on teh same theme, by Bill Buppert: Because Private Weapons Prohibition, That’s Why.
New SurvivalRealty.com Listing in Alaska
My #1 Son wrote me to mention an unusual new listing at his SurvivalRealty.com spin-off site: Remote Alaskan Property & Wild Salmon Business.
Seattle’s Revolt of the Elites
Peter sent us this: Seattle’s Revolt of the Elites. Here is a quote:
“Since the release of Eric Johnson’s documentary Seattle Is Dying, which depicts an epidemic of street homelessness, addiction, crime, and disorder, city elites have launched a coordinated information campaign targeted at voters frustrated with the city’s response to homelessness. Earlier this month, leaked documents revealed that a group of prominent nonprofits—the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Campion Advocacy Fund, the Raikes Foundation, and the Ballmer Group—hired a PR firm, Pyramid Communications, to conduct polling, create messaging, and disseminate the resulting content through a network of silent partners in academia, the press, government, and the nonprofit sector. The campaign, #SeattleForAll, is a case study in what writer James Lindsay calls “idea laundering”—creating misinformation and legitimizing it as objective truth through repetition in sympathetic media.
The key messages of the campaign include a number of misleading claims, including: “Seattle is making progress to end homelessness,” “1 in 4 people experiencing homelessness in our community struggle with drug or alcohol abuse,” and “[62 percent of Seattle voters believe] we are not spending enough to address homelessness.” All three contentions fail to meet basic scrutiny: street homelessness has increased 131 percent over the past five years; King County’s lawsuit against Purdue Pharma admits that “the majority of the homeless population is addicted to or uses opioids” (not one in four); and 62 percent of Seattle voters agree to the statement “we are not spending enough” only when it is directly prefaced in the polling questionnaire by the phrase “other cities of the same size are spending 2 to 3 times the amount that Seattle is and are seeing significant reductions in homelessness”—itself an unsubstantiated claim. (When the same question is presented neutrally, without the framing, support for “we are not spending enough” drops to 7 percent).”
Las Cruces, N.M. Overwhelmed by Migrant Dropoffs
Las Cruces, N.M. pleads for help amid migrant dropoffs: ‘This is going to be an ongoing event’. (Thanks to DSV for the link.)
Establishing Garden Plots
Here is a good YouTube video by Engineer 775 of Practical Preppers: The fastest way to make a garden plot! JWR’s Comment: There is nothing quite like having the proper power tools!
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Kazillions of pollinators around my farm . Way out back about a half mile and across the river on a plateau I was sitting on my quad at close to sundown . The entire hilltop was vibrating with the energy of trillions of bees supping on the trillions of flowers blooming simultaneously in this hill country of the Buckeye .
@ Wild Bees – This news story is very misleading. From reading the news story, one may think that bees are in decline, bees are needed for food production, therefore, food is going to be in decline, without an abundance of food people will be violent.
However, I just read the actually study that the news article is reporting on, and there is no mention of 119 species in decline. Rather, the study focuses on 4 species being in decline, and 3 species increasing. The study attempts to extrapolate other research about colony collapse disorder, but CCD is primarily about honey bees and more specifically, commercial honey bees that are trucked all over the country. Honey bees are big business. The parasites that are impacting bee’s comes from commercial bee keeping.
I could go further about this, but in short, there is a long history of scientific research being used by Universities who have a PR department whose primary job is to generate press. Media outlets will often pick up these stories when they are shocking, or alarmist. Stories such as this one are then framed to say “the end is near.” But in reality, when a person actually reads the research in question, you may often find a very different story.
If you are concerned about CCD, consider that honey bees contribute to a particular type of diet that was imported from Europe 100s of years ago. You should have bees in your area that support types of food that are local to your region. You can mimic and support you local bee population by creating nests/ hives for them near your gardens and fruit plots.
Thanks for the “rest of the story” and more complete info, Muddy.
Re: Bees. It is true that the honey bees don’t pollinate many crops, such as squash, tomatoes, etc. Many of the garden veggies we grow, they don’t pollinate, so getting honey bees won’t help those crops. Bumble bees actually help those more.
As a bee keeper, I can tell you for certain that the pesticides being used today DO affect the bee population. We have lost many hives when a neighbor planted corn, treated with neonicotinoids.
Here is where it gets controversial. Universities do not care about bees. They care about money. They get money from companies like Bayer and Monsanto. The reason that these universities have never managed to find evidence that CCD is cause by these horrible pesticides is because the companies that make and sell these pesticides are funding said universities.
You’re welcome.
Thanks – I saw the same thing – the “study” itself is behind a paywall, so there is a problem figuring out what the baseline was for the alleged decline.
The only thing they didn’t say (getting smarter) was “climate change” – probably because that would be a red flag to look at the raw data.
TZ, I have access to the article. The baseline for decline was data complied over 150 years. To my way of thinking, that is a red-flag because I am almost 100% certain that how data was collected 150 years ago is very different to how data is collected today. Technology has changed, techniques have changed, and in turn, this allows more accurate methods. That alone could be the reason for the perceived decline. To know for sure, it would take a lot more research on the topic.
This is not to say that pesticides are not impacting bees. That is certainly true. But, from the zerohedge article, the university press release that Buck posted below, to the actual study, three very different stories with three very different conclusions, and all for very different reasons.
Re. Seattle is dying.
These situations are overwhelming. Many Americans cities are dying. Opioids have flooded America’s cities. Ask not ‘Why?’ but ‘Why now?’
Estimated opium production in Afghanistan has increased 35-fold since the U.S. military invaded the county. Yet dare to criticize the US military and demand an end to wars of aggression and you WILL be mocked, even banned.
Jesus would be mocked today. And Americans wonder why our nation is bleeding out.
I have not gotten too far in to the military drug trade stuff. The reason I haven’t is because it will always be rooted in conspiracy, and real world information will be difficult to impossible to obtain.
Having said that, from what I have read about the Nicaragua Contra rebels together with my understanding of the Cold War, a great way to combat communism is to open consumer markets. Hence, drugs flowing from Nicaragua in to America. There is a documentary on netflix about crack flowing in to LA, and about the drug dealer Rick Ross. There is some interesting Nicaragua discussion in there that certainly makes a person scratch their head.
Muddy Kid, ah you mentioned ‘conspiracy’. Surely you realize the term “conspiracy theory” was developed by the CIA as a means of undercutting critics of the Warren Commission’s report on the Kennedy assassination. And Washington has effectively used it ever since to neuter skeptics by branding them ‘conspiracy theorists’. The sheep believed the ‘magic bullet theory’ 55 years ago and in 2001 that WTC 7 collapsed in unison without ever being hit. The latter incredibly brings us back to 18 years of war in Afghanistan.
Re WTC 7, over 3,000 architects and engineers (including myself) reject the government’s report. Is that not enough ‘real world information’? That is NOT a rhetorical question. 9/11 laid the whole ‘foundation for the government’s 28-year ‘War on Terror’.
Lastly, I did not state that the US military was in the drug trade. But ask yourself a question. If you lived in Afghanistan and the US military invaded you and waged war for 18 years, how would you finance a defense against the mightiest military in the world? If it was selling toxic opium which would be the best nation to ship it to?
Montana Guy, my point was more along the lines of I agree with you. My mention of conspiracy theories is that more often than not, with out proof of something, people will sideline the talking point and undermine the character of the person speaking.
I have seen Richard Gage speak in person. I do not dispute the 3000 architects and engineers data on WTC 7.
You may not have said the military was involved in the drug trade, but in my personal opinion, they certainly have been. To what degree, I could not say, and I don’t think anyone could say.
Skepticism is good! Following patterns is good! I recall something, somewhere, saying that when the US Military is involved in a conflict, the people of that nation can not grow commodity crops that are in direct competition with the American farmer. This would be my starting point to further exploring the drug trade focus. Just have not got around to it.
Muddykid, I’m with you. Glad to hear you met Richard Gage. He came to Montana for a presentation too. He has put truth above his personal safety. He is one brave man.
I agree. As an architect, I have been present for a few building implosion planned demolitions.,The World Trade Center destruction appeared textbook.
More is Fentanyl from China via Mexico.
While a few dozen were allegedly gassed in Syria we sent patriot missles to blow up lots of stuff.
over 50,000 last year, where are the drones, the MOABs, whatever creating cartel and chinese chem factories into smoking craters?
tz, yea we could start nuclear war with China and Russia. Or perhaps we could just enforce our borders. Do you have children or grandchildren? Google Hiroshima victims and get back to me.
So how do the billionaires benefit from increased homelessness and opioid addiction? Control of the masses?
I have often wondered myself how leadership benefits from homelessness. Although I think the real issue is how do they benefit from addiction?
I am unsure whether I believe in the ideology argument. May be possible but I don’t know.
WRT the politicians, I wonder if any are on cartel payrolls? I wish the people who comment on this issue would discuss the millions of dollars going to drug cartels and terrorists (the production side) as much as they discuss the addicts on the street (the consumption side). The misery of the people living under narcoterrorism is at least equal to the street problems in the major US cities.
Often wondered the same thing too. Im thinking that these people who love big government want more money dumped into social programs to help these people so they can speed up the “break the bank” mentality.
from Wikipedia:
The Cloward–Piven strategy is a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven that called for overloading the U.S. public welfare system in order to precipitate a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the welfare system with a socialist system of “a guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty”
(this stuff is being created and managed by nameless faceless activists, ultra-rich donors, rogue government bureaucrats, etc.)
Buck, if by ‘billionaires’ you mean ‘bankers and globalists’, they benefit from anything that can financially bleed out America. Step back. What we see is a classic implementation of the Cloward-Piven strategy. It was outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. It called for overloading the U.S. public welfare system in order to create today’s Welfare State. Bankers and globalists will be taking this same strategy to a global level.
To be successful Cloward-Piven needs an immense number of poverty stricken people to be use as a weapon. There is no greater weapon to create poverty than government. In 1964 Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ was a ruse for ‘Make Communism Great Again’. Not to be outdone Obama swelled our national debt with record unfunded liabilities and entitlements. His ObamaCare was designed-to-fail. Unemployment skyrocked. Today we watch hordes of foreign invaders breach our borders daily. Trump has over 2 million military personnel already on the payroll and under his command. Why hasn’t Trump stop the invasion? Trump is compromised. Who do you think came to Trump’s rescue when he repeatedly went bankrupt? Trump’s financial support came with conditions. He was purchased.
It is all by design. The chaos is world-wide. When national systems collapse the globalists will come to our rescue with a swap; liberty and sovereignty for their control. Who benefits from that?
This is the study on the bees. Note the original headline.
https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/news/release/2019/04/09/unh-researchers-reveal-more-dozen-wild-bee-species-declining-northeast
This is the press release by a university PR department. This is the link to the actual study.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320717313976?via%3Dihub
There is a multi-million dollar industry catering to “dealing” with the homelessness crisis. Both the politicians and the corporations profiting from this have a vested interest to not change tactics and keep the money-pipeline open.
I work for the county transit agency and see the real issues on a constant basis. Many of the homeless individuals depicted in the documentary were people my co-workers and I see and deal with on a near-daily basis.
Without God, the “compassion” showered on these poor souls becomes enabling. Faith based treatments, such as the Union Gospel Mission with a near 70% success rate once the addicts are in treatment, are NOT a part of the established government-sponsored programs.
Trump needs to follow through on his action to dump these illegal aliens in all the sanctuary cities and states. Nobody complained when Obama did it to try and turn these places into democrat enclaves. This is the only way that the people will begin to realize that the border is a crisis event