The Business of Bees: What's the buzz about?

The Premise (from Apple Podcasts):

These days about one in three bites of food you eat wouldn’t be possible without commercial bee pollination. And the economic value of insect pollination worldwide is estimated to be about $217 billion. But as important as bees have become for farming, there’s also increasing signs that bees are in trouble. In the decade-plus since the first cases of Colony Collapse Disorder were reported, bees are still dying in record numbers, and important questions remain unanswered. Over the course of one year, host Adam Allington and environment reporters David Schultz and Tiffany Stecker traveled to all corners of the honeybee ecosystem from Washington, D.C., to the California almond fields, and orchards of the upper Midwest to bring back answers to these questions.

Series or standalone:

Series

Begin listening to:

The Big Business of Bees

Format:

Investigative reporting

Host(s):

Host Adam Allington and environment reporters David Schultz and Tiffany Stecker

Sound/production quality:

Very good

Rating/age suitability:

All ages but probably more of interest to adults (and possibly high school students)

Approximate length of episodes:

25-30 minutes

Curricular ties:

This could certainly tie into science lessons for high school students. Although this is technically a series, you could easily pick and choose an episode or two for a lesson or homework assignment. With a little background knowledge, the episodes could work as standalones.

Similar recommended pods:

There are many great science podcasts, like Science Vs., The Weirdest Thing I Learned this Week, and Science Friday. I haven't listened to others about bees, but I'm certain there are plenty!

Podcast Librarian’s Review:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Save the bees! But first, maybe check if they actually need saving, or which ones do. Bloomberg Environment has taken advantage of all the buzz (if you thought you’d get through this review without being subjected to terrible bee puns, then you thought wrong) about the declining bee population. Speaking to experts, the reporters uncover the truth about why bees are important and how worried we really need to be about the bee crisis. This podcast is not the most exciting format, but it’s definitely an interesting topic. I did learn some interesting facts, like that there exist "rent-a-beehive" services. Farmers have bees brought in to pollinate their plants, and then those same bees move on to their next job. Also, bees aren’t the only insect that can pollinate plants. I was pretty grossed out when I learned which insect most often pollinates cacao, the plant that is used to make chocolate (not that it will keep me from consuming my daily chocolate, 'natch). Each episode is only about 20-30 minutes, so if you’re interested, you can try a couple episodes or zoom through the whole series.