Vanishing
of the
Bees
The Mysterious Disappearance
of the Honey Bee
What do you know about bees?
FACTS!
Electricity is Important to Pollination!
Electricity?
"As she flies from flower to flower, a bee's body generates a positive electrical charge from the friction of moving through the air. Flower petals, in contrast, usually give off a negative charge. The result being that when a positively charged bee approaches a negatively charged flower, the pollen leaps from the flower to the bee!" (28)
Rapid Decline of Bees!
Uh Oh...
"Bumble bee species in North America and Europe are experiencing a rapid and dramatic decline in population that has many scientists worried. A study from 2018 examined 100 years of bumble bee records for the state of Vermont and found that nearly half the species living here are in serious decline or have vanished entirely. In fact, four of Vermont's 17 bumble bee species have already become extinct." (185)
"From the dawn of civilization, the honey bee has represented hard work, unity, and cooperation."
Film Summary
Shipment of Bees
Sisterhood of the Traveling Bees
Bees are carted all around the country to help pollinate monocultures. This puts a strain on the bees, and bees are always expected to die during shipping.
Little bees get in a lot of mileage!
According to the EPA...
What is CCD?
"Colony Collapse Disorder is the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen."
"When applied to pesticides, the term systemic means that the chemical is soluble enough in water that it can be absorbed by a plant and moved around in its tissues. Movement of systemic insecticides, like all transportable chemicals in the plant, takes place principally in the plant’s vascular system, which includes the phloem and xylem."
What are Systemic Pesticides?
“Systemic pesticide chemicals designed to kill insects will be present in the plant’s flowers, fruits and seeds, essentially poisoning them.”
According to the EPA...
Where are we now?
"Once thought to pose a major long term threat to bees, reported cases of CCD have declined substantially over the last five years." (2018)
But that does mean that CCD is gone or over with! Bees still need your help!
Be Bee Friendly!
What can we do?
- Choose organic food
- Support local farmer's markets
- Create Habitat for Bees
- have a pollinator garden!
- if a farmer's market is unavailable, and organic is too expensive, plant your own vegetable garden!
Film Style and Structure
- Cinematography
- Editing
- Sound
- Narration
Please watch from 16:14 to 17:25
Scene Analysis
link will be put in the chatbox!
Analysis
- Why did I pick this clip?
- Shot Size?
- Narration?
- Film Style?
Thanks for Listening!
Buzz Buzz!
Any Thoughts or Questions?
Sources Mentioned:
Citations 1
- The Little Book of Bees by Hilary Kearney
- https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder
- https://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/landscape/sapfeed/ent-6006/
- https://thegrowersguideblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/25/systemic-and-non-systemic-pesticides/
Pictures Used...
Citations 2
- https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/honeycomb
- https://www.fllt.org/cl-the-honey-bee-our-friend-in-danger/
- https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/exclamation-point?mediatype=illustration&phrase=exclamation%20point&sort=mostpopular
- https://econlife.com/2020/05/murder-hornets-threaten-bee-population/
- https://savannahbee.com/blog/ancient-egyptian-beekeeping
- https://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/11/19/honey-bee-on-ancient-coins/