Slashdot Mirror
Bees Are Building Nests With Our Waste Plastic
Daniel_Stuckey writes "In a paper published in the Ecological Society of America's journal Ecosphere, researchers from York University and the University of Guelph in Canada explained that while plastic waste has previously been shown to have devastating impacts on the environment, less attention has been given to the resourcefulness of species in the face of their changing surroundings. "Plastic waste pervades the global landscape," they wrote. "Although adverse impacts on both species and ecosystems have been documented, there are few observations of behavioral flexibility and adaptation in species, especially insects, to increasingly plastic-rich environments.""
The plastic microparticles will inevitably appear in our honey. The filtration currently performed on honey is mainly for visual appearance,
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
The bees aren't alone, I've seen plastic, ribbons, string, mylar, and cigarette butts incorporated into bird nests. Crows in fact seem to deliberately incorporate cigarette butts into their nests to exterminate pests.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Earth came out of turtles.