Interviewer: Good morning, Mr Eddison. Mr Eddison: Good morning Interviewer: Well, I'm sure many of our nature-loving listeners already know something about the bee problems we are facing. However, can you retell us what the main issues are? Mr Eddison: Yes, well, basically, the honeybee population is falling very quickly, by billions, in fact. It has halved since 1990. This is an enormous problem, and I'm not just talking about having no honey! Interviewer: Because bees pollinate the flowers, and those flowers are necessary for our food. They travel from one flower to another, helping the flowers to produce seeds, which grow into fruit and vegetables. Mr Eddison: That's exactly right. They 'pollinate' the flowers, in the way you have said. Pollination is necessary so that we can grow new food plants. Imagine a world without apples, stra strawberries, plums, peaches blueberries, pumpkins, courgettes, peas onions, to name a few. Without honeybees - our food crops cannot grow. Around onc-third of our food crops rely on them. Bees contribute around 22 billion Euros to the economy in Europe every year! So it's money, as well as honey. Interviewer: Wow! But what about other insects? Can they help with pollination? Mr Eddison: Bumble bees are also important, even animals … But honeybees have been pollinating our plants for centuries. We cannot overemphasise their importance. Interviewer: So, how serious is the problem? Mr Eddison: Very, and if the situation does not change over the next five to ten years, not only will it cost millions, but in a few years, we'll also be eating food which is pollinated by wind, not insects. So we will have lost a lot of the colourful food we eat now and consider normal. Interviewer: So, what will we be eating then? Mr Eddison: In a few years' time, we'll possibly be eating more cereals like wheat and barley and maize. Interviewer: But is there no other way to pollinate these crops? Mr Eddison: In a word, 'no'. There are places where crops are pollinated by hand even now because of the bee problem … for example, in parts of China. However, there are not enough humans on the planet to hand-pollinate all the crops that we need. Interviewer: I see. And exactly why are so many millions of bees dying? Mr Eddison: Well, experts actually disagree on the main cause. However, the general opinion is that there are several different problems co-occurring. Interviewer: Right. Mr Eddison: For example, a virus has been attacking many bee colonies since 2006. There is also a shortage of food for bees in many areas, because of industrial farming. No wild flowers means that bees start to disappear. Then there's climate change. These factors, and others, make the bees stressed and weak. It's thought now that some kinds of chemicals used in farming can be very harmful to bees in behaviour, especially in this weak condition. Interviewer: So the future doesn't look… Card 1
1. Mr Eddison says that bees are needed for growing new 2. He says that one of our food crops need bees. 3. In the future, he warns that we may have to eat food which uses the pollination, not bees. .. for 4. In parts of... people pollinate apple trees by hands. 5. Mr Eddison suggests that there are ... for the honeybee problem. 6. Food shortages, industrial farming and climate change are making the bees feel