Bees

There is a time for everything. I love writing about books and movies, sports and music, but today, no.

I want to alarm you, make you think, so this blog will be short, to the point, and no fun at all.

We, not just America, but the whole World, are facing a problem of enormous magnitude. A species of bees has been declared endangered, and we have long known that many other types of bees are dying, from various causes, at an alarming rate.

Without bees, many crops will not be pollinated, crops will cease to grow, and famine will set in. This will likely be a fairly sudden event and it will be catastrophic.

Please, now and then, here and there, do some research on this issue. Use the internet for something other than gaming and Netflix. Find a way to pressure your political representatives to face this issue and learn what you can do yourselves.

The Animal Olympics

I have been enjoying this years Olympic Games. The athletes are truly amazing but, this morning, I saw great displays of athleticism in the back yard.

I stood in awe, watching the squirrels chasing each other, leaping from branch to branch, scaling tall trees and darting across the grass and over the rocks. I saw birds flitting through the air, at full speed, twisting and darting between branches not 6 inches apart.

I watched closer and began to appreciate the flight of bees and butterflies, hovering, suspended over blossoms, of ants carrying many time their own weight over mounds of sand that must seem to them like the Rocky Mountains, and watched a grasshopper making astounding leaps.

We humans are great athletes, in our own ways, but our efforts are dwarfed by those of the animal world. All we have to do is stand quietly and they put on a fine show.