Oklahoma Horizon TV: Plight of the Honey Bee

I have been on edge around bees for as long as I can remember. It amazes me how a tiny insect can frighten so many people. But when I had the opportunity to take a look inside the sweet home of honeybees (in a bee suit of course) I jumped at the chance.

What we found inside was incredible. There were huge gaping holes in the comb and the bees were not making honey like they should have been. We may be on edge about bees, but beekeepers are on edge about varroa mites. These little critters sneak inside the hive and weaken it. Not only does it hurt the bees but the beekeepers as well. Mite damage can cost producers millions of dollars and drastic hive loss, causing a quite a sting for beekeepers

In this week’s video blog, I introduce you to the president of the Oklahoma State Beekeeper’s Association, Keith Amason, as he shows us what is buzzing in the honeybee industry. Amason is a second generation beekeeper and is an ambassador for Oklahoma beekeepers. Suit up as Keith takes us up close and personal inside the threatened life of the honeybee.

Andy

Plight of the Honey Bee

I have been on edge around bees for as long as I can remember. It amazes me how a tiny insect can frighten so many people. But when I had the opportunity to take a look inside the sweet home of honeybees (in a bee suit of course) I jumped at the chance.

What we found inside was incredible. There were huge gaping holes in the comb and the bees were not making honey like they should have been. We may be on edge about bees, but beekeepers are on edge about varroa mites. These little critters sneak inside the hive and weaken it. Not only does it hurt the bees but the beekeepers as well. Mite damage can cost producers millions of dollars and drastic hive loss, causing a quite a sting for beekeepers

In this week’s show, I introduce you to the president of the Oklahoma State Beekeeper’s Association, Keith Amason, as he shows us what is buzzing in the honeybee industry. Amason is a second generation beekeeper and is an ambassador for Oklahoma beekeepers. Suit up as Keith takes us up close and personal inside the threatened life of the honeybee.

Andy Barth

Flying high with brilliance

I was not looking forward to spending an entire day listening to stuffy business men talk about the aerospace industry.  First of all it’s way over my head.  I chose broadcast journalism because it is just that; journalism.  Math and science not included.  Furthermore, how exciting can airplanes be anyway?

I was in for a wakeup call and a reminder of why my job is so cool.

They say it is like speed dating for the aerospace industry.  The annual aerospace summit in Tulsa, OK, brings together officials and aerospace aficionados from around the world to discuss all the new things heading our way.  As a multi-billion dollar industry, aerospace proves to be extremely important to Oklahoma’s economy.   The industry provides an astounding 143,000 jobs and $12 billion dollars annually to the state. 

 

Now back to the stuffy business men.  Yeah they were all wearing suits, but it turns out these guys were more along the lines of oh…geniuses.  We are talking about men and women who have walked on the moon.  Astronauts so intellectually brilliant they draw complicated designs on napkins.  No not squiggles and doodles, but the design plans for the B2 bomber.  CEO’s of Boeing and American Airlines.  Airplane pilots who have decided to retire from the grueling occupation and perfect unmanned aerial reconnaissance used for spying by the U.S. government.   

The men and women of the aerospace industry are incredible.  My brain will never work the way theirs do.  I will never step foot on the moon or fly a fighter jet into hostile territory, but I am able to hear their stories and bring them to you.  I have the opportunity to meet some of the most intriguing masterminds in the world and share with you what they are doing and what it means for Oklahoma. 

 

So the next time you step on an airplane, remember your pilot may just be a little piece of history sitting up there in that cockpit.

Courtenay Dehoff

Rocket Man

A half century has passed since President Kennedy challenged our nation to do what most thought to be impossible…Land a man on the moon.  Yet in just eight years, Neil Armstrong made that giant step for mankind… thanks in great part, to the work of several Oklahomans.

Per capita, Oklahoma has more former astronauts than any other state and many were in attendance at an event to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the race into space.  Former astronauts and NASA workers gathered at the Oklahoma History Center to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of JFK’s challenge to Congress:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.” – John F. Kennedy

Few people embody Oklahoma’s pioneering spirit more than General Thomas P. Stafford…a man whose mother came to the state in the back of a covered wagon,  while he later rocketed into space.  The same passion that took General Stafford to the moon is still evident today in his work to educate a new generation about science and technology.

In this week's show, we visit the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma to look into our country’s aerospace history, as well as, the life of an extraordinary Oklahoman.

Rob

Plight of the Wheat Farmer

Do you know where your food comes from?  With so many people moving off the farm and into urban areas it’s not surprising we’ve lost touch with our agriculture roots.

When farmers became capable of producing food beyond the needs of their own families, others in their society were freed to devote themselves to projects other than food acquisition.  Historians and anthropologists have long argued that the development of agriculture made civilization possible.  The total world population probably never exceeded 15 million inhabitants before the invention of agriculture.  Now only about two percent of the population (farmers) are feeding the rest of the world.  And many of those farmers are over the age of 50.  What will happen when they die off?  Who will step up and feed the world?

There IS a new generation of farmer.  But where grandpa was solely a farmer and could make ends meet with what he earned, the new farmer has to be smarter and work harder usually at two different jobs.  This week, I travel to Fairview, OK to visit with a farming family to find out just what goes into a wheat harvest and how they are combining life on the farm with life in the office.
Chatatcha later

Alisa