St. Valentine’s Other Task
Together with lovers, couples, and marriage, he has a more environmental domain.
St. Valentine is related to love and romance. He can be the patron saint of beekeepers. It’s unclear why. Possibly it’s the association of honey with happiness and affection, especially within the age before chocolate reached Europe. Or possibly it’s due to the “birds and the bees” as models for explaining sex to children. Whatever the explanation, the honey bees and their wild cousins need his protection greater than ever. Indeed, In 2021, the federal government began consideration of whether the American bumblebee, whose populations have dropped 90%, needs to be listed as endangered.
One problem bees face is pesticides. A 2021 article within the journal Science called neonicotinoids probably the most insidious of the pesticide threats. They disrupt learning and memory in bees, that are crucial to the insects’ capability to forage for flowers. And at higher levels, they impair reproduction. EPA was very slow to answer this problem. It was only six months ago that EPA got around to proposing regulations to limit the usage of these pesticides.
At that very same time, EPA made a proper finding that the pesticides jeopardize the survival or critical habitat of endangered bees. That finding brings into play the Endangered Species Act along with EPA’S general authority over pesticides.
In California, the courts took a wildly circuitous path to providing endangered species protection to bees. California’s endangered species law doesn’t cover insects, but an appeals court held that the definition of “fish” within the statute was so broad that it included bees. The reasoning was actually unexpected, if not fishy, though people may differ about whether the final result might be considered miraculous.
Who knows?? Could St. Valentine have played a job in nudging the judges toward this unlikely conclusion? Such theological questions are beyond the domain of this blog.
Regardless, let’s spare a number of moments to think in regards to the bees and their plight today. Valentine’s Day just isn’t only a day about dating and romance. It’s also a day in regards to the insects that play such a key role in pollinating plants, supporting each wildflowers and human agriculture. Keep that in mind whenever you give a card to your honey.
