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Life & Times Transcript
4/25/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Bees are a key link in the food chain. Why are millions disappearing without a trace? Lance Sundberg>> It's like as if they took off and went to work and they just failed to come back and no sign of dead bees and that's the unusual phenomenon. Val Zavala>> And then, they call her the Mother Teresa of Los Angeles. How one nun has helped thousands of women rebuild their lives. It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> It's a bizarre and disturbing mystery. Honeybees are disappearing throughout the United States and now Europe, millions of them. They're simply leaving the hive and never coming back and that has serious ramifications for our crop production. Reporter Spencer Michels takes a closer look at this strange phenomenon. Spencer Michels>> In California's lush Central Valley, the fruit and nut trees are in bloom, but the honeybees that pollinate those trees so they will bear fruit are in short supply. One of California's top crops, almonds, is completely dependent on bees for pollination. There aren't nearly enough wild or native bees to do the job and California commercial beekeepers can supply only half of the hives needed. So bees raised by migratory beekeepers from around the country are trucked in. But this year, there's a big problem. So this is, what, like a cemetery for bee hives? Lance Sundberg>> Yeah, in a way, it is. Spencer Michels>> Late last year, beekeeper Lance Sundberg brought twenty-one hundred colonies of bees to California from Montana and other states. A month later, he discovered that two-thirds of the bees had disappeared. Lance Sundberg>> It's like as if they took off and went to work and they just failed to come back and no sign of dead bees and that's the unusual phenomenon. Spencer Michels>> Many of the bees died or vanished before he could rent them out to growers, apparently the victims of a nationwide problem now being called colony collapse disorder. He's stacked completely dead hives under tarps. Here, so-called robber bees are stealing abandoned honey. And he's put ailing hives beside a lake in hopes they might recover. Lance Sundberg>> So a normal colony at this time would have these wall to wall. Spencer Michels>> There'd be thirty thousand bees probably. Lance Sundberg>> Thirty to sixty thousand bees, yeah. Right now, this one is down to probably three thousand five hundred bees or less. Spencer Michels>> Colony collapse disorder, a malady of unknown origin, has shown up in twenty-four states over the last year and could, if not stopped, jeopardize up to eighteen billion dollars in crops that bees pollinate. Jerry Bromenshenk>> So there's a whole variety of folks looking at what is something new or something sickly that we've seen before. It's just particularly widespread this time around and unusually severe. Spencer Michels>> Jerry Bromenshenk, an entomologist at the University of Montana and a private consultant to the bee industry, has visited sites of bee die-off around the country. Jerry Bromenshenk>> It could be some type of disease pathogen, an unknown virus, for example, because there doesn't seem to be any way to slow it down or stop it once it starts. [Film Clip] Spencer Michels>> As children learn early at places like San Francisco's Randall Museum, European honeybees imported to America by early colonists are complex creatures with a highly developed social structure. Nancy Ellis>> The society of the honeybee is made up of one queen, several thousand workers which are all female bees, and then several hundred that are males called drones. Spencer Michels>> But for all their organization, says the museum's Nancy Ellis, bees, even those in this carefully controlled display, seem defenseless against the current die-off. Nancy Ellis>> About three or four weeks ago, this was jammed with bees and, right now, you can only see just a few stragglers still inside. I don't really know what caused this hive to go. Spencer Michels>> Solving that mystery and the larger one are important because bees and other pollinators like hummingbirds perform a crucial function in agriculture. Various attempts to spread pollen without them have never worked well. As bees gather nectar and pollen, they flit between blossoms doing what the birds and the bees do. Laurie Adams heads the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. Laurie Adams>> The male part of the plant is moved toward the female part of the plant or toward the female part of another plant. Spencer Michels>> And a bee or another pollinator does this? Laurie Adams>> Absolutely. The result is the complete fertilization within the plant, so the plant is able to set seed and set fruit which it normally might not be able to do without that. Spencer Michels>> Because pollinators are essential in growing up to one-third of the typical American's diet, she contends that the food supply is threatened. The problem for many pollinators, she says, is the loss of habitat where homes are replacing fields. But scientists searching for the cause of colony collapse disorder are focusing on a long list of other suspects. Eric Mussen>> What they live in is a hive, whether it's a box that we made or whether it's a hollowed-out tree. Spencer Michels>> At the University of California at Davis, Eric Mussen gives advice to beekeepers and they've been calling nonstop. He suspects the bee die-off may be related to the weather which stresses the bees. Eric Mussen>> I think that one of the biggest stresses was the fact that the United States has been in a drought in many places and the plants are just not providing the food that the bees need to be really successful. Spencer Michels>> Bees can also be stressed by traveling long distances to get to orchards that need them, and scientists are looking at pesticides that might kill bees by contaminating the nectar and the pollen they gather. Another suspected culprit is mites that suck the blood from both adult and unborn bees and can transmit viruses into the colony. That's what Orin Johnson suspects. Johnson is President of the California Beekeepers Association and is a second-generation beekeeper. Orin Johnson>> The varroa mite is the worst malady we have. It spins off viruses that weakens the colony. It makes it susceptible for a lot of other maladies. If you don't keep the mites under control, you're going to lose a lot of colonies for sure. Spencer Michels>> Johnson uses medicines to control the mites and he's not lost very many bees this year, though he has lost some. Orin Johnson>> This is classic symptom of the colony collapse or disappearing bee. Your box or your combs will have plenty of honey. The hive has plenty of food. They're not dying from starving. They have everything they need, so why are they disappearing or dying? Spencer Michels>> Jim Jasper would like some answers. He heads one of the biggest almond growing and processing firms in California, a state that produces eighty percent of the world's almonds, about a billion pounds a year. Business has been booming of late as worldwide demand has expanded. More trees have been planted and that has upped the demand for bees and the price Jasper has to pay to rent them for about a month. Jim Jasper>> Four or five years ago, we were paying maybe forty or fifty dollars a hive. Now hives are up to a hundred fifty dollars a hive. Without bees, we would really be lost as far as producing almonds here in California. Spencer Michels>> Meanwhile, as the almond blossoms fade, beekeepers like Tom Hamilton of Idaho are pulling their bees out of these orchards at night when the bees are calm and preparing to move on to the next crop, cherries in California or apples in Washington State. The crisis hasn't hit Hamilton's bees nor has it crippled the almond industry, at least not yet. Tom Hamilton>> I think we're going to be able to solve this problem, but right now, it's a little stressful. Spencer Michels>> Growers and beekeepers alike fear that, without more academic and government research, the bee die-off will turn into a very costly, unsolved mystery. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Several Catholic churches throughout southern California are getting ready to offer refuge or sanctuary to immigrants, immigrants who are in danger of being deported. They're testing a law in California that says churches cannot harbor criminals, but they say that they're adhering to a higher law. Around our kitchen table this week are Joe Hicks of CommUnity Advocates, Lupe Moreno with Latino Americans for Immigration Reform who is against sanctuary, and supporting sanctuary is Rabbi Steven Jacobs with the Progressive Faith Foundation. The Kitchen Table is made possible by Ralph Tornberg. Joe Hicks>> There's been recent headlines that the La Placita church, Our Lady Queen of Angels, is part of a budding national network of sanctuary churches, mosques, synagogues, that are going to be providing refuge of sorts for families, individuals perhaps, that are at least here without the proper documentation to be here. I guess the question here, though, is this simply aiding and abetting lawbreaking or is there something else going on here that other people may miss? Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> The sanctuary movement is an inter-faith movement that comes from the deepest aspects of our tradition. While our government in this country has manmade laws, repeatedly it is a broken system. As Christians and Jews and as Muslims, we, out of our traditions, must forgive and act appropriately towards those who have fallen beneath the security level of what our citizens are about. So undocumented aliens have a very special role and it's very controversial in our country. Look at what Cardinal Mahony did recently when you ask about laws. Laws that are broken are manmade laws and this is a broken system that, hopefully, Congress and the president of this country are going to change, and that we will be helpful in our religious community to redefine what it is to be a citizen in America and act out of our deepest religious traditions. Joe Hicks>> You've heard the Rabbi's take on this. What's your perspective of those, in fact, presenting this kind of sanctuary, if you will, for people that are not here legally under existing laws? Lupe Moreno>> Okay. Well, if I remember correctly, when the last sanctuary movement was in place, it was because Latin America was having all kinds of civil wars and people were coming in illegally as refugees coming out of those wars. I tended to somewhat agree with the churches back then. But at this point, what we have are illegal aliens. They are not legal. They are not undocumented. Undocumented does not exist in our laws. The word is illegal alien. That's what our laws say. Okay, sure, they have children. The children are American citizens, but they are still illegal aliens. The children cannot help them in any way until the children turn twenty-one. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> It's dangerous to say "they" because it classifies everybody as the same. As religious people, I think we have an obligation to present to the American public what "they" means. Lupe Moreno>> They're illegal aliens. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> But that's where we differ. Lupe Moreno>> Okay. We are saying that illegal aliens are breaking our laws. Joe Hicks>> But, Rabbi, should not, under our current existing body of immigration laws, should not federal authorities, because they're job is to uphold law, not then move to detain or arrest people and then let the process figure out what to do with people and what's their actual status? I'm sure you would just say to open the borders and let anybody in under any kind of circumstances. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> No, I wouldn't say that. Lupe Moreno>> But that is what's happening. Anybody is coming in. Anybody without identification. We don't know who these people are and they are breaking our laws. We have very good laws. If our laws were enforced, we would not have these problems. Joe Hicks>> But here, you've got some churches and perhaps others like mosques and synagogues that may eventually join this movement in essence saying, wait a minute, a religious law in this case trumps federal law which says, you know, you've got to have the right stuff to come to this country legally. What do you say about that? What's your position on this? Lupe Moreno>> Well, I say I am a Christian and I pray all day and I ask for God's guidance. I say that what these people are actually doing with the sanctuary movement is sinning. It is enabling people to sin. It is justifying their sin and -- Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> -- so you're going to punish the sinner. You're going to punish the sinner. Where does the forgiveness come out of the Christian heart? Lupe Moreno>> No, we're not punishing the sinner. I don't think we're punishing the sinner. I think what you are trying to do is twist the words on me here. What I'm trying to say is that you're enabling them to sin, so you are showing them that it's okay to sin. But in the end, I believe that you will be held accountable before God. Joe Hicks>> Rabbi, you know, there's a lot of people out there that are going to be a little skeptical of this. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> We're not throwing the baby out with the bath water. Repeatedly, those of us across the country are saying that this is a broken system and we recognize this. Nobody has the answer yet. Congress doesn't have the answer, but out of our deep religious values, we are challenging the system, so it is equitable system. Yes, you have to stop at a stoplight. Yes, you have to stop at the border, but it is a broken system. The border people are not supported by our government, so anybody can get through the border because there are less and less border agents. That's a whole other issue when you say throw them across, throw them back, they're getting through the border, instead of stopping them at the border. We have not enhanced the system that we have in place that's broken. How much the more so do we need a system and the religious people in this country, an interfaith religious people in this country -- Lupe Moreno>> -- so why do we have to follow the law and these people not have to follow the law? What is fair about that? What is it that it's okay for all of these people to break this law and that law and that law? And why is it okay for you to help them lie? Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> First of all, I'm not helping them lie. I'm helping them -- Lupe Moreno>> -- their whole existence is a lie, so you help them lie. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> Would you like me to respond to that? Lupe Moreno>> Yes, please. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> Okay. I am helping them in ways that gives them dignity and to classify millions of immigrants and say they're leading a lie is absolutely wrong. First of all, millions -- Lupe Moreno>> -- they are leading a lie. Joe Hicks>> Let him respond. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> Millions of people are here legally. Millions of people want to become American citizens. They want to have a system in which they can add to the greatness of America and not throw them across the border where their lives are lost. Their children who are born here are legal citizens of this country. Lupe Moreno>> They are children. Joe Hicks>> What would you say to people saying, "Why should we grant dignity to people who've in fact come to this country illegally?" At the same time, we've got people standing in line waiting years literally to come here legally. Rabbi Steven Jacobs>> That's right, and that's the system that's broken and that's what we want to rectify. We're not just going and saying we're enhancing what you call illegal immigration and I call the undocumented part of this country. We want to fix that system so that you and millions of Americans no longer have to respond to what happens to those who are standing in line that want to become American citizens. We want to fix that system. Lupe Moreno>> But let me ask you one question. Joe Hicks>> Lupe, as a churchgoing Christian, are there no laws that you think trump our everyday laws? Lupe Moreno>> Okay. My understanding is that our Constitution and our laws are based on the Bible and other religious papers. The only thing that we should do for these people is treat them humanely, treat them with respect, but show them the door. Joe Hicks>> Lupe, we could do this all day, I think. Lupe Moreno>> Absolutely. Joe Hicks>> But we've got to bring it to a close. Thank you very much, both of you, for coming and having this discussion today. Appreciate it. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> For some people, life is all about money. For others, fame. And for many, it's about family. But for very few people is life all about service. Maybe that's why the nun you're about to meet has been called the Mother Teresa of Los Angeles. For more than twenty years, Sister Julia Mary Farley has been a mother of sorts to thousands of women who have been on the streets and come here for help. This is Good Shepherd Center just northwest of downtown Los Angeles and about a mile or so from Skid Row. It's a former convent where women can drop by for a shower and meal and hopefully stay to make a permanent transition to a normal life. Sister Julia Mary Farley>> That's not easily done. Easily said, but not easily done. But people can do it if they have the will to do it. You can't force them to do it. But if they have the will to change, they can do it, but with help. Cathy has been with us for a number -- not a number of years. We've known her for a number of years. Pretty soon, she's going to be moving to an apartment. Val Zavala>> Cathy is one of their success stories. She spent time in prison and lost custody of her children. Cathy>> They helped me to get back my children from court, taught me how to be a mother, to talk, not to cuss. Then they taught me how to be a grandmother. I've learned a lot from here. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for this great woman. If she wouldn't have brought me in, gave me some love, gave me her time, I wouldn't be able to stand here today. Sister Julia Mary Farley>> We take care of women regardless of ethnicity or religion. I mean, obviously, if you live in this house, you know there's a chapel. You don't have to use it, though. But there's nothing mandatory about religious observance for any of them. Each finds her way to God in her own way. Val Zavala>> Sister Julia Mary can give these women a home because she came from such a loving one. She grew up in a Catholic family in Chicago on a block full of kids to play with where the boys would jump the freight trains and be home in time for dinner. She came to California with her family when she was eighteen. Sister Julia Mary Farley> But I had in mind that maybe the Lord was calling me to a vocation and prayed over that and then met the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and asked to enter their community. Val Zavala>> At first, she thought she would become a teacher. Sister Julia Mary Farley>> When I was a Novice, this Novice Mistress said to me, "Why did you come?" I said, "To teach." She said, "Oh, no, you didn't come to teach." I said, "Oh, yes, I did." Then I realized that I probably shouldn't say that (laughter). She said, "No, you came to give your life to God, to serve His people. Then the community will help you to follow the way that's best to help." I said, "Well, that sounds good to me. All right." (laughter) Val Zavala>> She got a Masters degree in public health from UCLA. Then in 1984, she helped found Good Shepherd Center. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Many times, homelessness is the final result of problems that go back to childhood. Sister Julia Mary Farley>> I was talking to one woman and I don't know why I said this, but I said, "At our house, you had to eat everything on your plate." So she said, "Not me. I come home after school, nobody there. My mother was on drugs, so I just get a piece of bread or something and go back out on the streets and then be out on the streets." Well, I'll tell you about Lorraine. Lorraine is someone that we met through our outreach program, but she didn't necessarily want to come to our house. Val Zavala>> Lorraine was only five when her father gave her a cigarette and a drink, but she managed to rebuild a life for herself with a job, husband, house and children. Then drugs poisoned the family and she ended up on the street. Sister Ann, who does outreach, would come looking for her. Lorraine>> And she would look under that bench and she would say, "Come from under that bench." It was really amazing because she kept coming back. I wouldn't come to the program and she would bring me clothes that I just didn't like. So she finally started bringing me clothes I liked. If you bring me clothes that I like, I know you understand me a lot better. When I came here, it was home. It was a place that I trusted and they accepted me for who I was and they kept on and kept on trying to help me. Now to my days, I realize that, with their help, I was able to endure a lot of things in my life. I just lost my son. I lost my mother, I lost one son and then I just lost one last month on the sixth. Val Zavala>> How? Lorraine>> Drive-by shootings and, you know, I wouldn't have known how to endure them things if it wasn't for this place. But they give you so much love and so much dignity. Val Zavala>> The women who make it through the first stage at the emergency shelter make the next step a few blocks away at the Women's Village. I got a tour from Sister Julia Mary and some board members. Sister Julia Mary Farley>> It's a beautiful building when you see the inside. Val Zavala>> Inside this roomy new facility, women learn the basics of independent living like buying their own food. June>> We each have our own refrigerator. We have a closet. Val Zavala>> The bedrooms are simple, clean and comfortable, but mostly they're safe. June>> And when you walked in one of these rooms, it was like I almost was in tears when I walked into my room. Just to see that you're safe, you're clean and you're cared for, you know in that moment, I think, that you're going to make it and that, God willing, something is there giving you energy. Now you believe. Now you believe, you know, that you will rebuild. You can rebuild your life. Val Zavala>> There's an estimated ninety thousand homeless people on Los Angeles County streets, but there would be twenty thousand more if it weren't for the work of Good Shepherd Center. Still, they wish they had more room to help others. >> "In actuality, there's no room right now at this particular place." Val Zavala>> The good news is that Good Shepherd Center is expanding. There will be twenty-one more apartments. Judy Call>> And we're going to do some job training and job experience because we're going to run a small retail bakery, the Village Bakery. Val Zavala>> Will it be open to the public? Judy Call>> Open to the public, right. Val Zavala>> There's a lesson for other communities about letting homeless shelters into their neighborhoods. Sister Julia Mary remembers the resistance they had to overcome with the help of a persuasive pastor. Sister Julia Mary Farley>> It was he who talked to certain parishioners that he knew had influence and said to them, you know, "Give it a chance. Let's give these people a chance." They did that and I think these parishioners to whom he spoke talked to others. As I mentioned, pretty soon, they were bringing people to our door to see if we could help them. "That's the Lord's plan, how we help each other." >> "Yes, it is, Sister." Val Zavala>> Sister Julia Mary is good at deflecting compliments, always crediting her staff and board, and she would certainly be embarrassed if she knew that they have dubbed her the Mother Teresa of Los Angeles. Cathy>> And I could never express all the gratitude in my heart. She's been the only mother that I've ever had. She's a nun, but she's still my mother (laughter). Val Zavala>> In 1990, the president named Good Shepherd Center one of the country's 1000 Points of Light. Today at age thirty-nine and holding, as she puts it, Sister Julia Mary is still shining and will continue to do so for as long as the good Lord gives her strength. Their new facility should be finished by the end of the year and Sister Julia Mary plans to be there. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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