America's food production is presently in danger. While we are busy feeling sympathy and gathering a couple cents to send overseas to someone who, in most cases, can go on a half-a- mile walk and harvest more than enough food from the Earth to feed a whole family, American scientists and farmers are desperately seeking answers to the threats on our crops here. One problem they are addressing is bees. For years now, the number of bees has been dropping around the US, and this creates an extremely pressing problem.

Many people do not recognize the influence of bees on human survival. Beyond the painful stings that the majority of us fear, or the irritation that we feel when they crash our cookouts, most aren't even aware of any other connection between bees and humans. We choose to focus on the unfavorable challenges that nature brings us. We disconnect ourselves from Earth's natural environment and nearly ignore the complex harmony that requires the participation of all things in nature. We saturate our bodies with anti-biotics, chemical pesticides, and other harsh chemicals because of our fear of bacteria and parasites. We are clueless as to how much our health depends on these parasites and bacteria to balance nature.

In the "wild" (our name for nature when it is left to perfect its balance, uninfluenced by the meddling of colonial humans) bacteria and parasites plague any species who's numbers exceed the numbers that are beneficial to their environment. Specific types of bacteria are key in unlocking nutrients and gases in soil, which allow fertility for the planting of crops for human consumption and use. It seems that nature is a much more complex system than human beings can fathom. Time and time again we see the futile outcome of the battle of man against nature, and yet we repeatedly attempt to wage the war. Now our guerrilla, biochemical, and psychological warfare against nature is drastically threatening the existence of honeybees here in the United States and in Europe. As it turns out, bees are extremely important to the harmony of nature, including where humans are concerned.

Bees pollinate three-quarters of the world's 250,000 flowering plants, including many fruits and vegetables. Not only do bees pollinate edible plants, but that pollination also allows plants to reproduce and maintain genetic diversity. These plants provide food and shelter for animals. Certain plant communities prevent erosion by binding soil, which also keeps mudslides from contaminating streams from which both animals and humans drink.

Pollination is the process by which pollen grains are transferred to receptive female floral parts, to bring about fertilization. Pollinated crops make up one-third of the normal American diet and most of the vegetarian diet that is becoming more and more popular. The value of crops harvested as a direct result of pollination by bees is estimated at well over ten billion dollars, but the value of their contribution to human survival is immeasurable. Over 130 crop species in the US currently rely, to some degree, on the pollination services of the bees, namely the honeybee.

The Western honeybee is the world's premier managed pollinator species. The honeybee was critical to the success of the earliest European colonists of the New World. England's William Blackstone's efforts to grow apple trees in New England in 1623 were unsuccessful, until honeybees were brought over to provide necessary pollination. Today, centuries later, Europe and America remain as dependent on the honeybee as Blackstone was. Europeans and Americans are known for living according to the illusion that they are conquering nature, or that they are superior to the other components of nature. Ironically, they must now humble themselves as the tiny bee forces them to explore their behavior and make plans to learn what is jeopardizing the health of these small insects.

This is exactly what scientists, farmers, and beekeepers have been forced to do. Between 1947 and 2005, bee colony numbers have declined nationwide by over 60%, from 5.9 million to 2.4 million. As drastic as that is, in the past six months alone, there have been reports from farmers and beekeepers of a 50%-90% loss of honeybee populations. In October 2006, beekeepers from twenty-four states reported that hundreds of thousands of their bees were dying, and entire colonies were being lost. This bee epidemic has received the term, Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. In December 2006, beekeepers, that Nomic Colony scientists and officials formed a CCD working group to research its causes in order to find a solution. These colony collapses have been widespread. In America, commercial, migratory beekeeping operations in California, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as in the Pacific Northwestern states have reported significant losses of more than 50 percent. In the UK, as it has been witnessed here, bee colonies are practically disappearing from hives. They have named this disappearance the Marie Celeste phenomenon, and it has created another obstacle to pinpointing the cause of CCD. If scientists have no bees to study in a collapsed hive, because all of the bees have abandoned the hive, they cannot be sure of what it is that is causing the bees to die.

These scientists and beekeepers, though admittedly unsure, have come up with a few theories. Some are saying that it is radiation from cell phones and cell towers that is causing bees to avoid their hives. Professor Jachen Kuhn of Landau University conducted a study in which he placed cell phone handsets near hives and found that bees avoided them when the phones were radiating frequencies in a range from 900 to 1800 megahertz, the standard range for most cell phones. But many find this explanation inadequate. It is hard to believe that humans would use their cell phone close enough to bee hives considering our fear of their sting. The cell phone theory falls short in explaining the honeybee deaths and the severity of its progression in the last six months.

Another theory is that the many pesticides and harsh chemicals used in the modern farming industry are finally taking their toll on the bees. This explanation seems much more reasonable, considering the volume of pesticides and insecticides poured on crops, almost as if we were forgetting that we rely on one insect to come and work with the crops before we can harvest them. Professor May Berenbaum of the University of Illinois also points out, that "There are some neuro-toxic insecticides that can interfere with honeybee memory, and that might be manifested in disruption of their orientation and navigation abilities." This theory explains the hive abandonment, as well as their deaths, but why such a drastic drop in numbers in recent months? Colony Collapse Disorder is just the most recent of a seemingly unrelenting series of devastating problems for the beekeeping industry. Pests, parasites, microbial disease, pesticide drifts, and competition with the Africanized honeybee or "killer bee" have all threatened honeybee populations. Dramatic population declines occurred in the 1980s due to the accidental introduction of two bloodsucking parasitic mites. The Varroa mite and the Tracheal mite have plagued beekeepers in Europe and America. The Varroa mite--also known as the Varroa Destroyer--feeds on the larvae and pupae of the honeybee, which can result in increased mortality and lower breeding success. Infestation almost always results in the death of infected colonies, and the varroa mite is such a hardy parasite that it has become resistant to the only treatment available: fluvalinate. Currently, pesticides strong enough to kill it are not authorized by the European and American governments; however, there has been illegal usage of these unauthorized treatments. Parasitic Mite Syndrome is a virus that is thought to be carried by the varroa mite, that is known to destroy colonies.

Another honeybee hive pest is the small hive beetle which was discovered in Florida in May 1998. This insect is known to cause fermentation to the honey once inside the hive, which results in the honeybees abandoning it.

Though beekeepers are finding it hard to pinpoint the exact cause of what is going on with their honeybee colonies, interestingly, all of the probable, suggested theories have a connection. However, not many scientists, beekeepers, or modern farmers realize this or are willing to address it.

Greed and ambition are what motivate beekeepers to disregard government regulations and use illegal pesticides to deal with honeybee parasites. In Bismarck, North Dakota, five different commercial beekeepers were caught with 18 containers of Cyanobrik, a deadly sodium cyanide. It seems very illogical for beekeepers to think that the use of poisonous chemicals in their hives will help save their bees. Might they be forgetting that their bees are living organisms susceptible to poisons as well?

This is like a human being drinking poison to kill an infection, or putting poison on our food to keep pests away from it so that we can eat it... very illogical yet, and quality of our food to keep them away? Has our desire for profit blinded us to this common sense?

In fact, it is the same greed and ambition that introduced these parasites to the honeybee populations of America. The varroa mite, the most destructive of the honeybee parasites, has not always been destroying neighbor the Russian honeybee. It was first discovered in the 1960s. In the 70s it spread to Brazil and South America. Then in the 80s it moved through France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and came to the US in 1987. Then it affected honeybee operations in Florida, but Florida, as with most commercial operations throughout the US, has a big migratory beekeeping business. Meaning, depending on the season and the demand, hives are transported from one farm to the next, and by doing so, parasites, infections and viruses are transferred as well. The varroa mite was able to travel throughout the world in the same way. Commercial beekeeping for pollination and for bee products (honey, wax) has become a profitable business. The US has imported honeybees from Europe for centuries; the honeybee that is most commonly used in America's commercial farming is not even indigenous to this continent: it is from Europe. It is, once again, the ambition and greed of commercial farmers, in their attempts to increase their pollination and bee products by increasing the populations of bees, that has caused this problem.

It is interesting that the greed of the colonial lifestyle has pervaded every aspect of living in the modern culture. One would expect to see these vices plague corporate offices and sports arenas, careers and lifestyles that are so removed from the workings of Mother Nature. But it is sad to see that colonial greed has plagued even the farmer and the beekeeper, those who depend totally on nature for their livelihood and for everything that they do. This is a seriously disturbing situation: to have our perspective on life so controlled and misguided by greedy "leaders" who make all of us seem willing to destroy or compromise the very natural environment on which we all Depend.

It is important that we understand, as humans who have an obligation to contribute to the maintenance of nature's harmony, that any problem that we find in nature has a remedy that is also to be found in nature.

Three years ago, a strain of the fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, was found to be highly pathogenic to varroa mites and termites. However, it does not harm bees or affect their queen's production. This finding was by the ARS Beneficial Insects Research Unit (BIRU) at Weslaco, Texas, who since the year 2000, have been looking for a disease- causing agent, or pathogen that could stop the Varroa mite. ARS entomologist Walker A. Jones, research leader of the BIRU said, "We tried to find a pathogen of Varroa, and we did it. Commercial beekeepers are very edgy about using fluvalinate and coumaphos and are eager to see this natural control get to the market."

More and more people are realizing the benefits of utilizing more natural products; many are finding out how important it is to switch to organic foods to avoid the harmful chemicals that have doused crops for ages in America. But this is really just the tip of the ice-berg and alone means very little, especially when we can all see that the colonial powers are rushing to exploit, for profit, this "reawakening" of humanity.

In this era in human history, it has become the obligation of individual human beings to re-educate themselves on how to live maintaining a more harmonious lifestyle. Though they are diminishing in numbers, we are lucky enough to have authorities on this way of life. Our ancestral indigenous cultures lived successfully, fulfilling their responsibility to do whatever necessary to maintain and contribute to the harmony of nature. It is they who taught us agriculture in the first place. The colonial world is not the first to farm, nor is it the first to domesticate animals of bees. Why don't we return to these Earth authorities to learn how to farm, keep bees, and ultimately live better? Maybe if Mr. Blackstone had consulted native beekeepers about their methods, he might have started the healthier trend of recruiting native bees to pollinate his apple trees, and we might have avoided the situation we are in today.

In all indigenous cultures, bees were kept to produce honey and pollinate crops. Hives were usually built in a rotted out tree log which was cut and hollowed. The hollowed ends were closed and a hole was drilled in the side of the log. This was put in the "bush" or near the house of the farmer.

There are many different strains of bee that are indigenous to the United States and are even superior to the European honeybee. It is only when we allow ourselves to be inebriated by the gluttony and arrogance of colonialism, that we look past the most naturally logical solutions, like using bees from this very continent and materials on our farms to house the bees.

Using biodegradable products and "energy-save" light bulbs or eating organic foods means nothing if our energy and efforts still go into the colonial lifestyle that has contributed to the destruction of indigenous culture. There are farmers in the Us who are recognizing the necessity of returning to indigenous methods of farming--our energy and money should go to them.

We all make up nature. Killing any part of nature's web affects every other part of nature. In the same way, killing or oppressing any part of humanity hurts all of humanity, including those carrying out the killing, because it corrupts their very own humanity. But to continue to kill and oppress the portion of humanity which has taught us everything that is valuable to our lives on this planet is beyond self-destructive. Consider that concept the next time you are about to donate a few cents to whichever organization that has made it their job to tell indigenous cultures that they are suffering from poverty. Poverty is not defined by a lack of luxury, as much as it is defined by a lack of knowledge and understanding... So, who is poor?