The Bee Informed Partnership takes an annual survey of commercial and backyard beekeepers in order to track health and survival rates of honey bee colonies. The latest results show that colonies declined 44 percent during the year spanning April 2015 to April 2016. That sounds alarming, and it is in contrast to studies showing that bee numbers are not in decline, they were instead at a 20-year high last year. How can the claims be so different? Should we be alarmed or not? There are three reasons why lazy journalists who rewrite Friends of the Earth press releases are not only getting it wrong claiming pesticides are a cause, they are misrepresenting the data: Read more.
