New York Times on Colony Collapse Disorder

Biologist Mark Winston wrote an excellent column for the New York Times on July 14 about the complicated problem that is colony collapse disorder.  The following sticks out for me as maybe the best, most succinct summation of the disorder that I've read thus far:

Honeybee collapse has been particularly vexing because there is no one cause, but rather a thousand little cuts. The main elements include the compounding impact of pesticides applied to fields, as well as pesticides applied directly into hives to control mites; fungal, bacterial and viral pests and diseases; nutritional deficiencies caused by vast acreages of single-crop fields that lack diverse flowering plants; and, in the United States, commercial beekeeping itself, which disrupts colonies by moving most bees around the country multiple times each year to pollinate crops.

Winston's point, overall, is that the environmental problems we've created, and that we must face in the decades to come, can be seen in a microcosm of the hive.  We don't face just one problem--mites, say, or pesticides--we face a multitude, and they are compounded in their interactions.  Helping the bees may provide a sort of map for our own struggles--and will certainly help solve one of our looming problems in the meantime.