Tags: Colony Collapse Disorder, WRGB
Last night (and early today) Schenectady TV station WRGB ran the piece about Ward Stone and the vanishing bees. The promos were more enticing than the actual report, which offered very little in the way of any new information. Kinda like the trailer that makes you keen on going to a particular movie, which turns out to be a huge dud. Of course, Channel 6 had limited time to tell the story, and I'll bet they're not too sure how much the average 11pm news viewer knows about Colony Collapse Disorder.
The most striking bit of information: that bees died off en masse once before, during the 1930s. Hmmmm... no cell phones then. I did a quick google but didn't find anything to support that 1930s statement, but it figures, and here's why: we've only been keeping "modern" records since the 1850s or so. How many times have you heard people reacting to normally peculiar northeast weather by saying "it's global warming." Then, you watch the news on TV and the weatherman says something like "we tied a record set back in 1903." point is, stuff happens, and happens again later on down the road. While I do not dismiss the notion of global climate change, I strongly suggest CCD be researched a little more thoroughly.
While I'm in a suggesting mood, and I've mentioned this before, WRGB CBS6 needs to do away with those "trailer-style" promos for news stories. Or at least make sure the story is as or more intriguing than the promo/trailer.
By the way: A detailed, up-to-date report on Colony Collapse Disorder can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium Web site at http://maarec.org.