Topical issues: nature

Our natural world is under assault from human activity. The trouble is, to recognise damage to nature reveals also the risk to ourselves. ‘Progress’ is in the hands not of individual people, nor their elected representatives and politicians. It is in the hands of the free market, the large corporates who set the direction of our world through creating profit streams however they can. We don’t have to identify this as evil; rather it is almost inevitable. We are persuaded of the benefits of convenience and consumerism, and we are the source of the profits and the stimulant to corporate behaviour and the setters of social trends. What we must do is to observe, to ask questions, and be honest enough with ourselves to recognise that nothing we do is without consequence. If we are custodians of our children’s futures, we must accept individual and joint responsibility for the condition of our planet.

 

Here are examples of honest concern over EM fields from telecoms affecting wildlife:

  • The Kompetenz initiative writes urgently to bee associations and beekeepers and explains about EM fields and bee colony collapse
  • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Concerns Over U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Concerns Over Potential Radiation Impacts of Cellular Potential Radiation Impacts of Cellular Communication Towers on Migratory Birds and Communication Towers on Migratory Birds and Other Wildlife Other Wildlife – Research Opportunities Research Opportunities

From David Graves, an established New York beekeeper

I have been keeping honey bees since 1985, I describe my beekeeping career like a roller coaster up and down; first, I had to deal with black bears coming out of hibernation, they are very hungry, a hive left on the ground in my area, Becket, Massachusetts will most likely be destroyed, bears generally prefer the brood in the hive (larvae) it contains lots of protein not always the honey. The remedy enclose your hives with an electric fence, hang bacon on the wires. The bears cannot resist the bacon and it gets a good shock and will not return. I was told by a fellow beekeeper at a conference that the Electrical currents would confuse the honeybees and not to use this method to control black bears.

During the 80s we were losing hives due to parasitic mites putting many beekeepers out of business. In 1986 I decided to put a hive on my father’s mechanical shop roof in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. My dad was a car dealer and I worked for him for 20 years. Unfortunately, I was a beginner beekeeper at the time. I went on vacation, the bees built up so much they became overcrowded, they couldn’t keep the honey and wax cool enough, it melted out of the hive and ran all over my Dad’s used car lot. Needless to say he ordered the hive off that roof. We laugh about it today.

In 1991 my wife and I purchased a small restaurant in Becket. This is now a licensed kitchen where we produce 25 different kinds of jams and Jellies, maple syrup and of course honey. In January 1993 we were accepted by Greenmarket Farmers Market New York City to sell our homemade products. Still keeping bees in the Berkshires with some success. Hives are kept on rooftops in the Berkshires and in 1997 got my first hive in New York City on the Greenmarket office building on East 16th Street.

The New York Times in July 1997 had a story about me in the magazine section titled ‘New Buzz in Manhattan’. Each year I would get new locations in New York City, Upper west side, midtown, Harlem, lower East side and West side and Brooklyn. The last 6 years I have been loosing hives regularly, not really knowing why. Last Year I lost all my hives. This year only four out of 12 survived in New York City. I again had to order new bees from Jesup, Georgia. Five years ago had I bees in Central Massachusetts about 70 miles East of Becket, Massachusetts. The farmer grew raspberries and he would call me and tell me the bees were doing a good job pollinating his crop. I went to visit the hives in the fall, I opened the two hives, no bees. Not one honey bee in those hives. They absconded, left, no where to be found.

Each subsequent year I observed this same strange behavior in my hives especially in New York City. Initially I thought it was parasitic mites, a hive would become so infested with mites, 3 or 4 mites attached to each bee, they can’t stand it in there any longer so they abscond. Just simply leave only to die.

I was interviewed by Leonard Lopat from NYC last spring, and that’s what I told him they abscond. Basically commit suicide. These blood sucking verroa make it intolerable for the honey bee.

During the summer of 2007 here in Becket, Massachusetts, my wife Mary and my daughter Heather observed a crew of surveyors next to our property on Route 8, they were surveying this 230 acre parcel of wooded vacant land. We thought they were going to build houses on this land, it had been for sale for many years. My wife Mary not a shy person dragged me to the surveyors who were having a coffee break. We asked them what they were doing and they refused to tell us.

The day after Thanksgiving, Friday 2007 our local planning board sent us and all of the abutters of this 230 acre parcel that Verizon wanted to construct a cell tower here. The plan was to also build a road to service the tower. We believe that they wanted to put up many towers on this land. My wife Mary and Heather went to work. This keep in mind is our busy season for jams and jellies. They worked night and day compiling information about cell towers and their effect on honey bees, humans and wildlife.

We sent a pointed letter to Verizon’s attorney, our town and state officials objecting to the placement of this tower next to my beehives. We also pointed out that radio waves and radiation can deform the offspring of farm animals. I also raise chickens. We asked many question in our letter, wrote an editorial in our local newspaper objecting to the construction of this tower at the corner of Route 8 and Wade Inn Road. No-one ever answered any of our questions. We cc to our attorney, the New York Times, The Clinton Global Initiative, etc. On January 4, 2008 the headlines in the Berkshire Eagle Newspaper, Pittsfield Massachusetts read Verizon Pulls its cell tower application. I post this article on my stand at every NYC Greenmarket. I attend 4 markets a week year round with the caption ‘The Honey Bees Win’

After studying and reading about cell towers I have come to the following conclusion.

Honey bees live for only 45 days. In the spring I place a new package of bees into the hive. All the previous years bees are gone, there is some honey left over which I used to feed the new bees, each hive gets screened bottom board to control verroa mites without the use of chemicals

In New York City the spring is always earlier than the Berkshires on average. New York is 15 to 20 degrees warmer, the bees I have observed work longer hours in NYC. Maybe because of the lights, I’m not sure. It is quitting time 5 o’clock p.m. for the bees in the Becket, Massachusetts, whereas, in NYC they work up to dusk 8 p.m. The bees in NYC start working at the break of day 7 a.m. and about 9 a.m. in Becket, Massachusetts.

The honey bees tend to build up tremendously in the spring, lots of pollen and nectar that is in close proximity to the hive, they don’t have to travel far as the season wears on they have to venture further out from home to gather food. The electromagnetic waves from towers are now interfering with the natural electro magnetic waves from the Earth’s surface. The honey bee gets lost, can’t find its way back. The queen see’s no food coming through the entrance, she stops laying eggs, the hive diminishes in numbers.

Lacking Food (A balanced diet) their immune system is compromised, they become sick, just like a human would become ill if we weren’t fed a balanced diet. Keep in mind most hives have parasitic mites. A larger strong hive 60,000 honey bees has a few mites but since there are so many bees it doesn’t take a toll. But when the hive becomes smaller in numbers because the Queen isn’t laying eggs the mite population stays the same. Eventually we have 1 or 2 mites for every bee. Now we have a sick bee and blood sucking mite attached to it. They can’t stand it in the hive any longer, they abscond. Commit suicide. Usually this happens in the fall. I have also observed bees still in the hive late fall, the cluster of bees is so small about the size of a fist, it has no chance of surviving the winter.

A healthy wintering over cluster should be at least as big around as a large dinner plate to survive these winters.

Could radiation of towers be causing the depletion of the ozone layer. Honey bees need the eyesight to navigate. I think they are going blind, we humans are told to wear sunglasses even on cloudy days. Unfortunately the honey bee has no way of protecting its eyes from the suns harmful rays.

Every year until this year I would loose this hive, just below 14th street in Manhattan. This year it survived the winter. Last summer a large building in front of my hive was completed, this blocked a magnificent view of downtown Manhattan, I also believe the large building has blocked the electromagnetic waves from cell towers and that’s why this hive has survived.

I may be putting a hive atop of a 30 story office building in New York Time Square. It will be an interesting experiment to say the least. It will be my highest location.

After our talk on Tuesday I placed a hive on a maple syrup farmers sugar house in Worthington, Massachusetts, the closet tower is between 5 and 10 miles away. Cell service is poor at this location. We will see what happens.

Sincerely,

David Graves