1. Phil Barber reports.
2. Analysis.
1. Phil Barber reports.
Hi Bob hope this finds you well. I notice a new thing about Magazine Beach called “Nature Notes” online. Got an email about it the other day.
What I don’t see in it and probably not surprisingly is the large number of sick bees I’ve been noticing there all summer and especially now at the end of the season. I have seen many bumblebees who appear to be suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder
(Monsanto’s infamous Roundup herbicide has been linked to this disaster and is banned by the
EU I think because of it). They are lethargic and disoriented, even on warm days, and you can find dead ones in the AM who perished overnight unable to find their way back to the hive. There are a fair number of honeybees there as well, who seem to be less affected.
It feels like the world is dying all around us and no one is noticing.
Everywhere I see sick maples and even white pines, as the climate warms and can no longer sustain them. A mature ash died in Dana Park this year as did a fine sugar maple in front of the Morse School. I went to Rockport in August and was horrified to see mile after mile of dead and dying trees along the highway.
Well on a happier note the Alewife swans did produce one cygnet. I saw him/her I think in mid-August when newly hatched and the next time I came the family had moved on, as I haven’t seen them there since. Wouldn't you know it, one of the rare times I didn't have a camera with me!
Best,
Phil
2. Analysis.
As accurately noted by Phil, the upbeat publication comes from the folks who have been fighting for so much destruction while lying about “concern.”
Phil is getting into a continuing problem on the Charles which is overwhelmed by the bizarre situation which passes for politics in Cambridge, MA.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation loves poisons. They introduced poisons to Magazine Beach as part of the outrages of the 2000's and rather clearly intend to expand use now with the support of the Cambridge City Council (City Council Order 1, April 24, 2017)..
No surprise that bees are being hurt.
“Roundup” does not come as a surprise either. We have an annual infestation of the Charles River which dates back to DCR being disappointed about the impact of its poison use at Ebersol Fields near Massachusetts General Hospital on the Boston Side of the Charles River. So, because the existing poisons were not pleasing them, they dumped poisons marked “Do not use near water,” on Ebersol Fields. The next day, the Charles was dead with Algae infestation from Boston Harbor to the next bridge east of the BU Bridge. The infestation comes back every year since then. “Roundup” could have been the name..
And the fake Neighborhood Association is running around destroying ground vegetation, and putting out lovely puff pieces, and lying through omission about all the destruction they are working for and supporting with loud silence about the destruction they are achieving.
Reality is that, with responsible government, the DCR would be dumped as unceremonously as was its predecessor organization. The predecessor was the Metropolitan District Commission. That is where the DCR’s “planners” and their terrible “plans” come from.
We have an obvious choice. The other agency which replaced the MDC is the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. They are not perfect but they have stood up MEANINGFULLY to the DCR and to Cambridge’s “planners.” The latter two approach perfection, but from the wrong direction.
A responsible government would not be supporting the DCR’s outrages. It would be getting rid of the DCR in favor of MassDOT by acting through the legislature.
Here is a file photo from Phil about his Swan friends at Alewife, another environmental beauty subjected to destruction by the City of Cambridge and by the DCR.
