The article is here: 2012 theories- Bee Theory
Bees have been dying mysteriously all over the world without a known cause. It is a significant problem because bees are a large source of pollination for plants, including many food crops the human race relies on. If the bees die, the crops will take a massive beating and cause a worldwide famine. Wars could be started over the lack of food and international exports could grind to a halt. If noted early enough, this problem could be avoided by genetic engineering in the food crops.
The bee theory is an apocalypse scenario that has recently attracted some attention. Their deaths have recently been related to insecticides in crop seeds (source here) and it should be noted that action has been taken on the subject. This article seems well-researched and accurate for the most part, however, due to the increasing awareness and exploration the “death toll” statistic is something I find to be incorrect. Scientists are discovering what might have killed off the bees and working towards eradicating the threat to our agriculture, leaning toward a best-case scenario. A predicted death toll of 5,000-1 billion seems over-the-top for the circumstances. They also do not cite their source for their prediction, leading me to think that it may just be an estimate they created.
I also disagree with the idea of genetically manipulating the plants or the bees because it may cause a different, larger problem. Genetically mutated bees could become pests and menaces very quickly, due to having resilient man-made genes and genetically modified crops could take over natural land. The modified crops may even be bad for our health, we wouldn’t know. The outcome of this could be bad or good, both sides being on complete opposite ends of a spectrum, and it would be risky to employ this. The smarter idea would be to eradicate the threat, rather than fix the crops or bees. It also may be an easier job. This also comes with drawbacks, but in the case of a designer disease we could create a “self-destruct button” that will cause the disease to die after its work is done or maybe cause it spread a certain way.
Either way, this is an all-around viable theory to go off of.
Bee deaths are related to a number of things ranging from insecticides to cellphone radiation. There is a great deal of research supporting the causes behind bee deaths and confirming that it is a problem. It is true that that this could be our demise, however education around "bee awareness" is on the rise and there are large movements to stop this, so I agree with you that this will not be a life-threatening issue. However I find it interesting that this is one of the most well researched, factual and supported theories behind an apocalypse, however it is one of the only ones that has no specific correlation to a mysterious 2012 date. It could have happened sooner, it still could happen years from now, luckily we have begun to work on restoring populations before it is an issue. But it's just funny to think that the most credible apocalyptic theories are simply things that could go wrong at anytime. The date has nothing to do with it. In my opinion it would be ironic if one of these highly credible and highly researched problems just happens to cause an apocalypse this year.
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