The book I read for the fishbowl discussion was Buzz by Thor Hanson. I actually really enjoyed the experience of reading this book and how it was written. The narrative style of memoir combined with information was very appealing and its deep dive into larger than life topics was constantly intriguing. One of these topics was evolution, where Hanson spoke on the development of the bee from wasps, how bees coevolved with flowers, and then how humans have evolved with bees. I found the idea of cultural evolution in bees through eusocial communities to be particularly interested, and how the development of this evolutionary trait is not always dominate. Another interesting note on evolution is that humans have evolved dependent on bees, particularly honey bees, for honey and pollination. This dependence has led to what I believe is an evolutionary trait in humans to have “fondness” for the honeybee. Unlike flowers however humans have more of a parasitic relationship with bees, which was particularly noted in the final section of the book, which spoke on the current state of bees worldwide. One component it noted that has led to the death of bees worldwide was globalization, particularly the spreading of diseases from separated bee populations. An example it gave for this was Belgium bumblebees being shipped for the greenhouse industry, my industry. This led me to realize that what has been deemed colony collapse disorder was most likely due to the initial effects of industrialization and globalism. Now we find ourselves in a new age where current bee populations have been able to survive these initial causes of immediate death, but are now dying to increasing stress and overexertion, which are mainly due to human greed and short term thinking—capitalism.
One part of Buzz that was especially enjoyable was that it focused on bee species other than honeybees. This separation made it very unique, especially when compared to the other books which focused nearly exclusively on humans and honeybees. I often read Buzz in Ault Park, while in Ault I would take breaks and take photos of bees at nearby flowers. Thor said frequently in his book that bees are all around us and we just need to take the time to look, since reading I’ve began taking the time to look, and the bees are always there! Photos from Ault are featured below.
During our class fishbowl discussions I was involved in the first group to go that focused on animal and economic sustainability with regards to capitalism. I am in the belief that bees are a great metaphor for the hidden plights capitalism can bring to society. With capitalism hidden externalities occur when a product or service is not properly represented fiscally, in the case of bees its their roll in pollination and its benefit to nature. I found the fishbowl conversation intriguing but felt that ideas were not able to be effectively discussed because the groups were too big and there was no real in depth voiced disagreement. I would have liked to see more conversation on how capitalism affects bees and what changes could be done to tip the scales in favor of bees. I enjoyed and gained a lot from being outside of the fishbowl as well. It reminded me of the art critical thinking at the Triceracopter in the sense that I was able to create new conclusions and ideas based on the third party view of the conversation over an extended period of time.