Tag Archives: Bees

History, Spirituality

The Quadra Project: Intelligence

In the back pages of New Scientist magazine, in a section called Almost the Last Word, readers pose questions that are then answered, usually by well-informed other readers. In the July 13, 2024 edition, someone asked, “Once life is established, is the evolution of intelligence inevitable?”

Garry Trethewey of South Australia attempted the first answer. “Probably not. Wings have evolved four times—in birds, bats, pterosaurs and insects. Legs and eyes have evolved multiple times. Swimming ability has also evolved many times. But intelligence has only evolved once, very recently. Is it useful? Is it a survival trait? Is it somehow better than not-intelligence? Given the 8 billion of us versus the vastly greater numbers of microbes and how long they have been around, I would put my money on the microbes.”

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Animals, Politics

House of Commons Exchange: Ongoing Neonicotinoid Insecticide Controversy

Neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics) are widely believed to be the most effective chemical insecticides and in one study their usage was linked to a 70% crop increase in the United States. Yet numerous scientists have pointed to their lethal impact on beneficial insects like the honeybee. According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, “neonicotinoids can affect the reproduction, foraging, and flying ability of honeybee and other insects including pollinators.” Many believe they are a principle contributor colony collapse disorder. The EU banned three key neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxamin) 2013 and, starting in 2026, will prohibit imports of products containing even trace amounts. In North America, there are partial bans in Ontario, Quebec, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island and California. So far, the federal  governments of Canada and the United States have not taken action. 

Green Party leader Elizabeth May has brought this issue before the House of Commons many times since 2014, often requesting that Canada follow the lead of the European Union, exercise the precautionary principle, and remove the authorizations for neonicotinoid insecticide use within Canada. May raised this issue once again on the  snowy evening of December 4, 2025. 

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Animals

To bee or not to bee: Comox’s path to pollinator protection

By Madeline Dunnett, The Discourse,  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Comox is making a commitment to bees, butterflies and other pollinators after receiving an official Bee City designation earlier this month. 

The designation, assigned by Bee City Canada, means municipalities will commit to what the organization calls the three pillars of the program: Creating a healthy and biodiverse pollinator habitat, educating and celebrating. 

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Animals

Canada’s Unidentified And Unprotected Species at Risk

According to the United Nations, global diversity loss is one of the world’s most pressing emergencies. “Intense human activities, such as land-use change, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and the introduction of invasive species, is causing an extinction acceleration that is at least tens to hundreds of times faster than the natural process of extinctions.”  More than 400 vertebrate species have been lost over the past 100 years. The populations of close to half the species listed by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals ‘are showing population declines’ and 97% of the fish species are ‘threatened with extinction.’ 

Canada made an international commitment to protect species at risk, but a new report from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada found we are not providing the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) with anywhere near the the support it needs. 

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Animals, Environment

Working to reverse the decline of the birds, bees and native plants

By Mark Page, Valley Voice, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Birds need insects to eat and plants to use for nests. Insects must have plants to feed on, and plants require insects for pollination.

The precariousness of this ecological triad was the focus of the West Kootenay Climate Hub’s March 17 offering in their monthly webinar series on local environmental initiatives.

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