A World Without Bees

Writers and beekeepers Benjamin and McCallum have traveled across Europe and North America investigating the plight of the honeybee, which is disappearing across the globe at an alarming rate. From commercial almond farmers in California to local honey cultivators in the English countryside, all suffer from lonely hives that are filled with baby bees where all the adults have disappeared.

The loss of our black-and-yellow pollinators would mean the end of agriculture as we know it, threatening our civilization and our way of life, as a third of what we eat and much of what we wear is directly dependent on bees. Addressing different causes for this growing catastrophe, A World Without Bees will both enthrall readers and spur them to action.

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left."—Albert Einstein

An investigation into the strange case of the vanishing honeybee: How we can save these tiny creatures who are so vital to our survival?

Publishers Weekly

The authors of this data-rich study about the mystery of the disappearing honeybee, dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) since first noted in 2006, consider an array of contributory causes, from invasive mites and the advent of monoculture to pesticide ingestion and urban sprawl. But the collapse, they suggest, likely has no single culprit and can be rolled into an overarching reality—stressed honeybees, now trucked in dwindling numbers across the continent, have been pushed to the point of collapse “so that the global agricultural system can keep producing cheap food.” The numbers are daunting: one-third of everything Americans eat, from nuts and onions to berries and broccoli, depends on nature's master pollinator; 800,000 colonies representing billions of bees died mysteriously in 2007, and one million vanished in 2008. Continuing CCD could cost the American economy $75 billion, and if CCD continues unchecked, there could be a world without bees by 2035. Benjamin and McCallum, beekeepers both, cover much the same ground as previous books (A Spring Without Bees; Fruitless Fall), but bring the added emotion and urgency of passionate apiarists. (Oct.)

Allison Benjamin is deputy editor of Society Guardian and writes on environmental issues and social affairs.

Brian McCallum is an apiarist and currently studying to become a geography professor. He lives in London.