Allison Burbach- Brooke’s Bees (1/26)

I really enjoyed Brooke McDonough’s film and discussion about honey bees and native bees. I knew that bees were on the decline, but I had not heard much discourse about honey bees competing with native bees. Once I thought about it, the importance of native bees hardly ever comes up in conversation. I was fascinated by Brooke’s knowledge of bees’ social networks and dances. This information makes me reconsider how little we know about nature and how little we appreciate the micro-complexities. Humans can hardly detect differences in bee behavior, but to the individuals and the colony, these minute behavioral indications can mean life or death. 


In connection to our discussion of aesthetics of nature, I have always marveled at the beautiful diversity of flowers that evolved to be the most attractive to pollinators. In that sense, nature has external motivations to be beautiful, even before humans came along to appreciate it. Beauty has more functions than just to satisfy the human eye. 

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