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Hi Richard, Bev & All, June 4, 2012
There is suddenly a large number of interesting threads on Naturens so I
will be brief.
Excepting those who have a severe (& potentially fatal ?) allergy to bee
stings it is indeed strange but true that many adult humans are afraid of
bees, 'creepy crawlies' and just about anything that doesn't come in a
sanitized, sealed package.
Hands-on exposure to the natural world at an early age, in the company
of mentors who are not at all afraid, is a great way to alleviate this kind
of irrational fear. But it must be hand-on; as opposed to the look but don't
touch nonsense (small heavily used parks excepted).
And it cuts both ways. Any animal, human, carnivore, herbivore,
stinging arthropod... is more dangerous and more likely to be aggressive if
it feels threatened or in danger. So if you are afraid of being stung you, I
suspect, are more likely to bee stung.
Yellow Jackets are really quite friendly, provided you don't damage
their nest or try to drive them away.
But getting back to the core of this; encouraging each generation to
value the natural world is going to be a challenge.
Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bev Wigney" <bkwigney@gmail.com>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] re huge bumblebees on rhodos, Wolfville : Doing my
bit for bees
> On 2012-06-03, at 4:50 PM, Richard Stern <sternrichard@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I pointed out what a beautiful bee this was, and one of our group (an
>> otherwise intelligent and well-educated person) promptly and deliberately
>> killed it by stepping on it. I was horrified, and she said she was
>> worried it might sting her, and that bees and wasps were all the same and
>> were dangerous anyway. I spent the next 5 minutes explaining why it
>> wouldn't, and why bees are beautiful, pollinate plants, are necessary for
>> the eco-system, are particularly necessary for apple blossoms, and aren't
>> the same as wasps. I hope my little education session helped,
>> particularly as there were other people including kids within earshot. We
>> have a long way to go!
>
> * A couple of days ago, a similar concern was discussed on the eastern
> Ontario naturelist, but with regard to irrational fear of spiders. For
> several years, I used to do a "stream survey day" with classes of high
> school science students in the Ottawa area. On more than one occasion, I
> would hear a scream followed by someone stomping on or throwing rocks down
> upon some harmless Wolf or Fishing Spiders. I would stop all activity and
> hold a discussion on needless destruction of creatures and forbid any
> further killing for the day. By the end of a day of field work, all of
> the teens had usually seen, netted, or touched crayfish, frogs, fish,
> caddisfly larvae, spiders and insects.
>
> Based on my experiences working with classes and in leading nature hikes,
> I have learned that it is very important that we naturalists lead by
> example, and also that we take the time to educate the public with regard
> to the relative harmlessness of various creatures. The other thing we
> need to keep in mind is how ignorant many people are when it comes to
> nature. During the science class field days, I would ask the teens how
> many had ever seen this or that creature, picked one up, etc.. I was
> quite shocked to find that only about a quarter of them had ever held a
> frog, and very rarely had any of them ever held a crayfish - I think it
> was just two brothers whose parents had a cottage on the upper Ottawa
> River - this out of perhaps 150 different students I have worked with.
> The thing is that these are typical teens living in our nation's capital
> city. They are our future. It is they who will, some day, be making
> decisions about conservation policies and so on. Believe me when I say
> that I find that thought to be quite frightening. Obviously, as Richard
> Stern wrote in the above quoted letter, we do indeed have a long way to
> go.
>
> Bev Wigney
> Round Hill, NS (in summer)
>
>
> -----
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