Dana Church has written a fine book dealing with the well-intentioned but intellectually naive wishes of people concerned with environmental apocalypse, to do their bit in remediating the environment. If in the process a little honey should result, then so much the better!
After all what could be more noble than helping to restore balance in the biosphere? Except that most of the time people have a less than complete understanding of the biosphere and unwittingly do more harm than good. Paying attention to alarmist headlines in the popular press always trumps taking the time to research an issue, enabling one to act based on evidence not on emotion.
Church presents an extensive and informative history of bee cultivation by humans. It should not be overlooked for a moment that commercial honey bees are domestic animals, much as cows and sheep, and have been finely tuned to serve the needs of humans with little regard to their impact on native bees and the environment writ large. She is well equipped by training and education to deliver the wisdom of science, yet she writes in such a colloquial, flowing manner that you feel you are talking to a friend - a good friend, mind you, a person whose views you respect, someone you listen to.
It is probably safe to assert that very few beekeepers take the time to understand the impact their colonies have on the ecosystem in which they locate their hives. What is their impact on local wild bees? Is there enough food for wild bees (and other insects) and the occupants of the introduced hives? Are species like solitary bees, sweat bees, bumble bees and others deprived of the nectar from a specific host plant on which they feed exclusively? The measure of success for the beekeeper is the volume of honey produced, with little concern for the impact on the entire trophic network. Even where honey bees are transported long distances to pollinate crops it can be proven that in many cases wild bees could do the job better - at no cost. The role of wild bees is seriously under-rated. The physical damage that commercial honey bees can inflict on plants is barely acknowledged, let alone accounted for.
Church tackles head on the contentious issue of "bee washing", where companies bent on commercial success, where profit is their motive, rent hives to people, taking care of them for a fee, and lulling their customers into falsely believing that they are on the way to environmental sainthood. No thought is ever given to how many hives a given area can support; more is always better for the bottom line.
A census that reveals a large number of bees simply means that introduced honey bees are doing well, but native species may be in simultaneous catastrophic decline, with untold and unknown consequences for the ecosystem. In some instances introduced bees damage crops and swamp native species. More is not always better.
No ornithologist in her right mind would flood an area with House Sparrows and European Starlings and claim, after native species had been displaced or eliminated, that the environment was better because there are more birds. Yet this is precisely the argument advanced in the case of bees.
Everyone who owns a hive or is contemplating acquiring a hive, everyone who is a client of a bee rental service, everyone who wants to know the real truth should get a copy of this book. It is critical reading.
If I had one minor quibble it would be that there are no illustrations at all. They would have been very useful in elucidating the text. Their absence may reflect budgetary constraints, but it's a pity that not a single picture is provided.
My summary: It is a book for its time, well written, stimulating, thought-provoking and it offers a way forward. Dana Church is to be congratulated for a job very well done.
The Honey Trap - Sutherland House
Dana L. Church
Paperback - 189 pages - ISBN: 9781990823855
$23.95 USD/$25.95 CAD
Publication date: September, 2024
I've read about this problem before (probably in an earlier review of this book) and I find it amazing that this seemingly obvious tinkering with nature has been ignore, that so little attention has been paid. I enjoyed your review, and I'm very tempted to read the book itself.
ReplyDeletebest, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I hope you do, Mae.
Delete...the natural balance is mighty complex.
ReplyDeleteThanks David, your writing is really good.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in this book as I think I have noticed that beekeepers in Italy always take the environment for granted.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteA matter that was being discussed on a recent podcast I was listening to. As you say, timely... YAM xx
This is all so true, and not well understood. Beginners also don't always grasp how large a radius their bees forage in. One of my friends gave up after two seasons because her bees died from insecticide sprayed on crops, none nearer than several miles away. She'd assumed there was plenty of unsprayed territory for them on her own acreage.
ReplyDeleteYes, Western Honey Bees forage at a far great distance than native species.
DeleteNice review David. I have a neighbour who have honey bees. Many of them comes in my garden. I'm very happy to see them here. Hugs and kisses, Marit
ReplyDeleteThat is a very interesting topic, one I sure never thought about. We kept bees off and on for years, just 3 hives though, and no other hives nearby. Some of our last bees swarmed and we still see them around. I suppose they found a good tree to live in. I am pretty sure these bees are from our hives as they were Russian bees and have a distinctive look.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what species “Russian” bees would be, but safe to say that they were not native. Not necessarily destructive but certainly not native.
DeleteThis sounds like a book that is useful in illuminating how humans may often be destructive of the natural environment even when they are trying to be "helpful." Not that we didn't already know that, of course, but the evidence continues to mount.
ReplyDelete