Vanishing of the Bees: Documentary Gets to the Bottom of the Growing Honeybee Decline

Photo by Dragonseye via flickr

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon that has caused serious concern across the nation in recent years. Since 2006 bees have been mysteriously disappearing from their hives, leaving bee farmers and scientists perplexed as to where and why they have gone. Though, it is believed that a series of issues like pesticides, monoculture farming and parasitic mites are to blame for the recent growth in CCD, it is unknown where the original source of the problem started.

In the documentary, The Vanishing of the Bees, filmmakers follow two bee farmers across the country on a mission to track where the mystery of the disappearing bees first occurred. And with recent reports showing that 2010 is the worst year thus far for CCD, it is clear that something needs to be done.

“Bees are an indicator of environmental quality. When the bees are dying, something is wrong and that is going to affect all of us,” says commercial beekeeper David Mendes in the film.

This is true. Bees are the real workers behind our agricultural system. If they continue to disappear, prices of plant-based foods will soar to unfathomable rates and when they are gone, well, we just wont have any fruits and vegetables left to eat, leaving us to rely on countries that have practiced smart beekeeping for our sustenance.

The film pays particular attention to the unnatural way of farming that many commercial bee keepers are encouraged to use on their crops and how this counterbalance with nature affects the livelihood of the honeybee.

Proponents, of what many would call a much needed “food revolution,” like Michael Pollan are also interviewed for their insight. Pollan goes into detail about the monoculture farming, like corn and soy, that are dominating most U.S. crops today and how this lack of agricultural diversity inadvertently causes a need for more pesticides, therefore placing an unnecessary strain on the honeybee.

The solution, obviously, is going back to nature and practicing organic bee farming like many other countries have already begun to do. According to Dee Lusby, Founder of Organic Beekeeping Group, CCD is a “combination that when the bee is out of synch with nature, nature is going to come in with all types of parasites, all types of viruses, bacteria, fungus, diseases, and they’re going to take down what shouldn’t belong there.”

This process starts with the honeybees, and the crops they nourish, but where does it end? In the film, directors’ Maryam Henein and George Langworthy answer these questions.  The Vanishing of the Bees does is not simply a film that focuses on the mystery of disappearing bees, nor is it a piece designed to place blame on one particular group or practice, it is much deeper than that, heeding warning that if we continue to farm as we do now we’ll be facing a frightening outcome. It thoughtfully weaves together the relationship farmers have with honeybees, bees have with nature, nature has with our food supply, the health of humanity, and the entire ecosystem as a whole, in a way that should create a call to action to any concerned citizen of this earth.

Watch the trailer:

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