Something has been killing the bees. And that something doesn’t seem to be going away. The latest study indicates that forty percent of honeybee hives died in the past year. While that number is bad news for the bees, it could also point to much broader environmental issues. Study co-author Keith Delaplane explains: “What we’re seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there’s some bad things happening with our agro-ecosystems. We just happen to notice it with the honeybee because they are so easy to count.”

+ Vox: Why Wall Street investors and Chinese firms are buying farmland all over the world.

+ “The community, which has about 3,600 members, has consistently rejected the plan over concerns that it would harm fish habitats, particularly for salmon.” From the NYT: A small Canadian aboriginal community rejected a $1 billion fee for natural gas project.