The Beeholder, January 2009.

Several Bee Keeping Associations, as well as our own, have noticed an increasing number of members who do not actually keep honey bees. Interest in the honey bee has become a way of expressing interest in the environment in general and an acceptance that the health of the honey bee population is an indication of the health of the environment. Confirmation of this can be gleaned from the annual EarthWatch debate held on November 20th 2008.

The debate discussed “Irreplaceable – The World’s Most Invaluable Species”, Bats, bees Fungi, plankton and primates each had their illustrious academic champions. Members of the audience had to make up their minds whether to vote with their heads or their hearts .. An initial vote put Professor David Thomas in the lead with plankton, followed by Dr. George McGavin representing bees; then the pair were each given another five minutes to win over support for their species - and everything changed.

Bees were declared the most invaluable species on the planet Dr. McGavin, won the day with his persuasive argument, explaining how one quarter of a million species of flowering plants depend on bees. He added that many species are crucial to world agriculture, and without them, we would lose not only flowering plants, but many fruit and vegetables. Personally I would have gone a lot further and pointed out that without bees there would be no soya or clover and without these two crops the whole of the dairy and meat industry would collapse. A world without Tofu and Hamburgers would soon galvanise the Vegans and Carnivores into uniting to save the bees.

Click onto www.earthwatch.org/europe/newsroom/science/news-3-result1.html where there’s an opportunity to listen to the speakers argue their case: and listen to the finalists battle it out between plankton and bees.