Europe's Bees in Decline: Agent Has Never Seen a Bee

Transcript of the segment

What BBN said on air. The facts are in the original report: The Guardian.

1. Hank LedgerA study out today says most of Europe's wild bee species have declined over the last century, with records going back to nineteen twenty-one, as a UN biodiversity summit opens in Armenia.

2. Hank LedgerCassius Vandermeer represents bees. Cassius, is that accurate?

3. Cassius VandermeerHank, I represent the comeback. Nobody holds a trend line for a hundred years without discipline, and that's what I'm selling this afternoon.

4. Hank LedgerA hundred years of going down. That's the trend line.

5. Cassius VandermeerA long, sustained trend line.

6. Cassius VandermeerAlmost two thousand wild bee species, and none of them has ever asked for a raise.

7. Hank LedgerBees don't talk. And the European Environment Agency says about eighty-four percent of EU crop species depend on insect pollination. Does that worry you?

8. Cassius VandermeerNo, it's leverage.

9. Cassius VandermeerI assume the crops are on hold right now, waiting for my clients to call back. Excuse me, the shaker's honey.

10. Hank LedgerHoney from where?

11. Cassius VandermeerSomewhere sustained. Now, the study says bees are declining in all parts of Europe except the Alps. I'd call that a breakout market.

12. Hank LedgerThe Alps are the one region where more species are not declining. You're calling that a market.

13. Cassius VandermeerEvery other region is in decline, Hank, and one region isn't. You don't have a bee crisis, you have an Alpine success story.

14. Cassius VandermeerI'm signing the Alps by Friday, and I'm told the Alps are very available.

15. Hank LedgerHave you ever actually been to the Alps?

16. Cassius VandermeerI've seen the numbers, and I've never seen a bee. Not one, Hank, but the numbers are buzzing.