By Ross Pomeroy,
RealClearScience | December 4, 2017 06:12am ET
In 2006, an ominous term entered
the public lexicon: colony
collapse disorder. The mysterious, somewhat vague word describes
instances where entire colonies of honeybees abruptly disappear, leaving behind
their queens. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) has since fueled claims of an
ongoing "bee
apocalypse," which summarizes the perilous plight of our pollinator
pals.
But despite panicked claims of an
apocalypse, managed honeybee colonies in the United States have actually been
rising since 2008. In fact, as of April 2017,
U.S. honeybee colonies are at their highest levels in more than 23 years! According to University of Sussex Professor
Dave Goulson, perhaps the foremost expert on bees, the trend is the same
globally.
Herein lies the biggest myth of
the "bee apocalypse": that there actually is one. Fret not, bees
aren't going extinct anytime soon. Our food supply is not imminently imperiled.
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