beemageddon

alternative Beemageddon

1. informaluncountableThe widespread incidence of colony collapse disorder, feared to portend a coming mass extinction of honeybees.

   Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought.

   2013 September, Todd Woody, “Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought”, in The Beekeepers Quarterly, page 41

   2 more examples

   You've probably heard about Beemageddon. Over the past few years, colony collapse disorder – thought to be brought on by a pernicious combination of overwork, bad weather, pesticides and infestations of parasitic varroa mites – has been threatening to wipe out honeybees all over the world, and with them many of our food crops.

   2013 November 16, Caroline Williams, “I, bee bot”, in New Scientist, page 43

   The harrowing mystery of CCD [colony collapse disorder] carried on for the next two years, spawning documentaries, reports from major news networks, magazine features, and various “Beemageddon” hoopla surrounding the bees' steady decline […]

   2017, David MacNeal, Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Them, pages 253–254

   Synonyms: beepocalypse