Prompt Questions

Considering the theories and concepts from Aldo Leopold, Gary Varner, and J. Baird
Callicott (and Michael Pollan), explore the below question:
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What moral obligations do we have to

the bees?
How ought we respond?
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First, highlight three key moments in the above videos that struck you are particularly meaningful,
interesting and important. How do these moments connect to the concepts and arguments you've
been learning about in this module.

In order to answer the above questions, you will need to explore the issue through the lens of
Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic. How are we conceiving our relationship to the world shared by the bees?
How does Leopold's Land Ethic conceive of an alternate moral perspective? (Here you will be
explaining and applying his ideas of biotic pyramids, ecocentrism, and other key principles from
Leopold's writing).

What are some of the many social, economic, nutritional and cultural dimensions that come into
play when we try to understand and respond to colony collapse disorder?

To what extent do the obligations or interests within the many communities we inhabit (family,
neighborhood, state, nation, environment, etc.) conflict with each other on this issue, and how do we
negotiate the tensions? How would J. Baird Callicott's Second-Order Principles apply in a case like
this?

What can and ought we do? That is, what are our moral obligations here--politically,
economically, personally, etc.? How does the Land Ethic approach help us to understand our moral
obligations differently than we normally might?

Remember that, primarily, this is an exercise which is designed to allow you the opportunity to apply the
theories you have learned so far in class. So you will want to stay focused, primarily, on the task
of exploring how the philosophers youve studied would answer this question; and secondarily, on
how you answer it.

My response:
Dr. Spivak is a great example in showing why this is a really big problem, I've actually already followed her
work from NPR. She is a truly amazing inspiration to help change the world, even by just planting a few
flowers for bees so they have food, many other spokespersons for this subject are not as able to properly
communicate the attention this subject needs.
I think the jaw dropper for this speech is in the beginning when it shows the products in the grocery store
with bees and then it shows the available food when they are gone. Nearly everything nutritious and fresh
is gone from the shelves. That makes a huge statement because it takes the doom-saying factor out of it,
to explain, most people will say all the food will be gone and humanity as we know it will starve. That is
not completely the case, but it will lead to endless social problems and create a horrible world, if the bees
disappear.
A second moment, was something I had not thought of, when Dr. Spivak addresses massive farms they
are called crop mono-cultures. Comparing human food deserts to the bee food desert equivalent. When
she said "The very farms that used to sustain bees are now agricultural food deserts. I had not thought a
farm could starve bees, even though I used to tend an alfalfa farm I had no idea how important they were
to the ecosystem. I was only familiar with feeding peoples horses. I also did not realize flowers can be the
best and most needed food for bees and how loyal the bees were to the plants they pollinate.
Again Dr. Spivak talked about our dysfunctional food system, and how easy it can be to fix. Diversifying
crops can be so helpful, I thought it was enough to just not use pesticides, learning about their food was
quite enlightening. Another great moment was when she said, Neurotoxins are in insecticide, the bees die
or get lost, and they will not find their way home. Also I would like to mention I was especially excited
when they found a cure for "White Nose" in bats this year, I consider myself a "Bat-Girl, I already knew
how important they were, but no one generally talks about bats so bravo to the other doctor in the second
TED Talk!
I feel like nearly every philosopher or theory we have talked about would say: "Save the bees!" Lives and
species will be lost without them, doing something now is obviously important, especially the Land Ethic
supports this. Morality principles apply in every way to this, even the ones that can be "cold" towards
everything except humanity. The bees are not just a huge part of our ecosystem, they almost are the
ecosystem. Just preventing colony death for preserving a comfortable life should be enough for everyone
to start doing something, threatening the loss of a healthy breakfast I feel was a great way of showing all
people they have to do something.
I feel like Calicott's perspective would say we should save the bees, it is in humanities best interest, losing
our diversity in the fresh grocery store would not bode well for our primary interest. No contest on that, I
don't think anyone can effectively argue the bees are not important, so it is worth making even a small
effort to preserve them.
Yes, the most important things in society/ecosystem have no economic value to us, bees are a super
organism. The bees are the most important thing to humanity, even just looking at it from a big business
standpoint works, if there are no bees to effectively make these crops, it can be hard to make a profit from
an agricultural enterprise. They may not ever receive rights to live in emerging ethical thoughts, but even if

humanity is not going to acknowledge that they are smart, important and always exact a positive change
in the world, we should care about them, even if it is as selfish as just thinking, I wont be able to eat as
many jelly doughnuts/coffee without them. Even if bees are not important because they are "just alive", we
should diversify crops/change or stop using pesticides if not to save a species, just to preserve a
comfortable life.I truly think that in order for us to take our destruction of nature

seriously, we must view what is happening because of our destruction. We need to

see the work that wildlife rehabbers do. We need to see images of baby eagles with
no homes, and see the reduction of our wildlife population by image, not data.
Videos of the destruction of the rain forest need to be shown. The public needs to
be aware of what they are doing. I do believe that if people knew more, they would
care more.