this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 91 points 1 day ago (63 children)

I feel like bees are a bit of a grey area. We're not eating them, we're kind of like landlords that give them a nice place to stay and they pay rent in honey. I'm not vegan so I'm not quite sure what the rationale is for bee stuff.

[–] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 18 hours ago

I don't think comparing beekeeping to landlordism makes it sound very ethical at all

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 86 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Best friend's a vegan who raises bees. He doesn't clip wings or use smoke. From what I gather he basically just maintains their boxes, feeds them sugar when it's too cold for em, and collects honey when it's time. Someone is about to come along and say "he's not a vegan. Sounds like a vegetarian" and then I'm going to think "sounds like you're gatekeeping a lifestyle like it's a religion, and not even all vegans who don't use honey agree on whether or not a vegan can use honey" but I won't, because I don't wanna get wrapped up in the nonsense.

But either way, yes, some vegans do use honey. And some, like that theoretical commenter, don't eat anything that casts a shadow.

[–] littlewonder@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Beekeeping family here: who the fuck clips bee wings?

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

People who don't understand bees and think that the queen is ruling the hive -- if the queen can't swarm then they're going to dispose of her and raise a new one. All you're doing is weakening the hive without actually preventing it from swarming. You might even kill it off.

You let them swarm, you let them get their rocks on, and you also have a nice property ready for them to settle back into.

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

I read that in Kerrigan's voice.

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[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 19 hours ago

not even all vegans who don't use honey agree on whether or not a vegan can use honey

Exactly this, veganism is ethical choice, and ethics is not science. You can't 'prove' that something is acceptable, nor vice versa. There are guidelines and discussions but that's pretty much it.

So this is really not about whether bees are animals or not.

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[–] neidu2@feddit.nl 51 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with my landlord harvesting my vomit as rent.

"I'm eating it, I promise it's not a sex thing."

[–] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 day ago

If my bank accepted vomit as mortgage payments, they could smack my ass and call me bulimic, I don't care what y'all do with my vomit, let's talk about pool house options and a second car.

I'd be cool with creaming their coffee twice a week if it meant I got my house for no money.

[–] Notyou@sopuli.xyz 1 points 18 hours ago

Idk....how much vomit?

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[–] Chev@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

As long as we canot ask them, if it's ok if we take their honey (consent), it's not vegan. For an counter example, it's fairly easy to get consent from a dog to touch them. Most people are able to tell if they are fine or not.

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Couple of reasons. One, honey is made not from local pollinators but from European honey bees. Two, European honey bees are really good at producing honey, which means they're more efficient at removing pollen and nectar from flowers, denying food for native pollinators. Three, while only a few bees are directly harmed during honey harvesting, the need for their honey to be harvested means that they've been bred to make big, uniform honeycombs and a glut of excess honey. This makes them more susceptible to diseases, even before you factor in the monoculture nature of their existence.

Essentially, it's not that eating honey is harmful to bees. It's that the creation of honey at scale is cruel both to the bees producing the honey and the native pollinators who get pushed out by them. We (my household) do have honey on occasion, but only from local, small scale honey producers.

[–] blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Here in Brazil we have Meliponiculture, farming honey from native stingless bees.

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[–] TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone 28 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Well landlords are the badguys so...

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[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

One of my best friends is vegan. They won't use anything that comes from animals. Nothing. That includes wool, even though the sheep is harmed in the process. They're absolutely opposed to any animal products or bi-products.

[–] Tabula_stercore@lemmy.world 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

even though the sheep is harmed in the process

This is such a funny typo

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

The dark vegan. Eats only food that causes as much suffering as possible.

[–] v4ld1z@lemmy.zip 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

So honey is not a grey area, it's not for human consumption according to vegan values.

[–] v4ld1z@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 hours ago

Pretty much since it's animal-derived

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