New show coming on TV Called The Last Beekeeper

vermmy35 · September 12, 2009, 03:02:48 PM

I just wanted to tell everyone that tonight on Planet Green there is a show called the The Last Beekeeper. Its about three commercial beekeepers and CCD and what it means to humans. I know that Planet Green might be seen as a treehuger channel, but I hope it will be informative and not a propaganda about CCD. It comes on at 8 pm EST.

Schoon · September 12, 2009, 03:08:35 PM

What is Planet Green?

vermmy35 · September 12, 2009, 03:21:34 PM

Its a channel on cable that was started by the Discovery Channel. They have all kind of stuff for helping the planet some of the stuff they put on the channel is BS, but some is really good.

Schoon · September 12, 2009, 04:42:35 PM

Thanks Vermmy35, I guess we can't get it here in the south.

gwalker314 · September 12, 2009, 04:51:48 PM

Schoon, I live near B'ham and its on Direct TV planet Green here.

GW

HoneyMaple · September 12, 2009, 06:29:39 PM

Dish Network it is just GREEN. On mine it is channel 194.

flyingphish · September 12, 2009, 06:44:10 PM

thx i tivo'd it

Michael Bush · September 12, 2009, 09:02:20 PM

Generally the beekeepers with CCD are not very green...

johnnybigfish · September 12, 2009, 10:37:27 PM

I watched it!
I saw it advertised yesterday but I dont usually watch that channel.
I thought it was a good show, but it sure was depressing for those beekeepers :'(
your friend,
john

vermmy35 · September 12, 2009, 10:45:51 PM

Yeah I sort of feel for them. My only point was that if I was a commercial beek I would avoid California like the plague. When I was stationed out there all the farmers used so many chemicals that it wasn't funny, and unfortunately that beekeeper from NC started losing his hive when he got back. HMMMM wonder if it was all the chemicals.

rick42_98 · September 13, 2009, 10:26:09 AM

Hi All...I saw the show last night. I think it was slanted toward the greenies, which is to say that it was full of drama (like human caused global warming) and warned of the dangers of the overuse of pesitcides (which is a serious problem) but it also partially blamed our capitalist culture where we, as humans, are trying to squeeze every last drop of profit out of these natural systems and are thus abusing nature. I certainly feel for beeks who experience devastating losses but my best sense is that most of the participants on this board are not commercial beeks. More so, we mainly tend to be the backyard or even some sideline beeks. I like the fact that more attention is being paid to beekeeping but my personal belief that CCD is more of an issue than a catastrophy. Of more serious consequence is the mite. While they did mention the mite they did concentrate on the idea that it is human intervention that is causing our own demise. I am not saying that this is untrue, even in the case of bees, it can lead to faulty logic when that is applied to all natural systems.

I recently read a really good book about migratory beeks called "Following the Bloom" by Douglas Whynott. It is really well written and more accurately depicts the challenges faced by migratory beeks.

My big thing is spreading backyard beekeeping. I think our strength and the survivability of bees rests in our hands. Convince as many people as you can to keep bees in their own back yards. While none of us may end up with thousands of hives, if we get thousands of new beeks I think that wiill be helpful to both the bees and the environment. (Distributed, not centralized) Just my 2 cents...

MustbeeNuts · September 13, 2009, 12:08:09 PM

I thought that show was the worst thing I have seen in 10 years. My Gawd!!! just sad!!

vermmy35 · September 13, 2009, 12:43:45 PM

Hey Rick, I would have to agree with you on all accounts. I would also add that their stats in the beginning of the show probably didn't account for the hobbyist beekeeper and that the 2.3 million beekeepers worldwide are only the commercial beekeepers.

reinbeau · September 13, 2009, 01:53:49 PM

Well, it was definitely geared towards only the commercial, migratory type beek. I also thought it was incredibly sad. It's a hard life, for sure. I don't mind at all the slap at chemical use, it's not just the honeybee we're harming with that stuff.

BjornBee · September 13, 2009, 07:32:04 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on September 12, 2009, 09:02:20 PM
Generally the beekeepers with CCD are not very green...

Understatement of year.... ;)

gaucho10 · September 13, 2009, 10:22:03 PM

BjornBee,

DITO, DITO, DITO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

beee farmer · September 13, 2009, 11:12:01 PM

Quote from: rick42_98 on September 13, 2009, 10:26:09 AM
Hi All...I saw the show last night. I think it was slanted toward the greenies, which is to say that it was full of drama (like human caused global warming) and warned of the dangers of the overuse of pesitcides (which is a serious problem) but it also partially blamed our capitalist culture where we, as humans, are trying to squeeze every last drop of profit out of these natural systems and are thus abusing nature. I certainly feel for beeks who experience devastating losses but my best sense is that most of the participants on this board are not commercial beeks. More so, we mainly tend to be the backyard or even some sideline beeks. I like the fact that more attention is being paid to beekeeping but my personal belief that CCD is more of an issue than a catastrophy. Of more serious consequence is the mite. While they did mention the mite they did concentrate on the idea that it is human intervention that is causing our own demise. I am not saying that this is untrue, even in the case of bees, it can lead to faulty logic when that is applied to all natural systems.

Very well put! Couldn't have said it better myself.

I recently read a really good book about migratory beeks called "Following the Bloom" by Douglas Whynott. It is really well written and more accurately depicts the challenges faced by migratory beeks.

My big thing is spreading backyard beekeeping. I think our strength and the survivability of bees rests in our hands. Convince as many people as you can to keep bees in their own back yards. While none of us may end up with thousands of hives, if we get thousands of new beeks I think that wiill be helpful to both the bees and the environment. (Distributed, not centralized) Just my 2 cents...

JP · September 14, 2009, 12:03:14 AM

Quote from: Michael Bush on September 12, 2009, 09:02:20 PM
Generally the beekeepers with CCD are not very green...

This is what I was thinking while watching this show tonight.

Now, I didn't catch all of it. The roly poly guy that loved bees more than humans, did it say whether he used chemicals or not? His bees seemed to be doing better than the other two, but like I said I didn't see the entire show.

The ending was quite sad. The skinny guy who's gonna give it one more year, broke down, sobbing at one point, saying something like "I don't know what to do, don't know what to treat them with."

There, lies the rub, IMO.

Keep 'em natural and as close to feral as you can and we'll have bees.

...JP

bee-nuts · September 14, 2009, 06:38:19 AM

Why do I always miss this stuff? Will it re-air?

Dang it any way!!

reinbeau · September 14, 2009, 09:17:19 AM

JP, the 'roly-poly' guy's bees started to go downhill when he left to go home, and he ended up not replacing his bees, so he did make the most money, but still lost his bees.