0:00:06.247,0:00:10.345
Pollinator decline is a grand challenge[br]in the modern world.

0:00:10.345,0:00:13.426
Of the 200,000 species of pollinators,

0:00:13.426,0:00:16.187
honeybees are the most well-understood,

0:00:16.187,0:00:18.305
partly because of[br]our long history with them,

0:00:18.305,0:00:20.417
dating back 8,000 years ago[br]

0:00:20.421,0:00:23.760
to our cave drawings [br]in what's now modern-day Spain,

0:00:23.760,0:00:27.629
and yet, we know that[br]this indicator species is dying off.

0:00:27.629,0:00:32.879
Last year alone, we lost 40%[br]of all beehives in the United States,

0:00:32.879,0:00:35.690
and that number is even higher [br]in areas with harsh winters,

0:00:35.690,0:00:37.121
like here in Massachusetts,

0:00:37.121,0:00:41.487
where we lost 47% of beehives[br]in one year alone.

0:00:41.504,0:00:45.116
Can you imagine if we lost[br]half of our people last year?

0:00:45.136,0:00:48.035
And if those were[br]the food-producing people?

0:00:48.828,0:00:51.572
And I predict that in 10 years,

0:00:51.922,0:00:53.956
we will lose our bees.

0:00:53.956,0:00:58.345
If not for the work of beekeepers[br]replacing these dead beehives,

0:00:58.345,0:01:01.281
we would be without foods[br]that we rely upon:

0:01:01.281,0:01:05.430
Fruits, vegetables,[br]crunchy almonds and nuts,

0:01:05.430,0:01:08.780
tart apples, sour lemons,

0:01:08.780,0:01:11.817
even the food that[br]our cattle relies upon to eat -

0:01:11.817,0:01:14.207
hay and alfalfa, gone -

0:01:14.207,0:01:17.921
causing global hunger, economic collapse,

0:01:17.921,0:01:20.428
a total moral crisis across Earth.

0:01:20.428,0:01:23.986
And it's going to take an effort [br]from every single one of you here

0:01:23.986,0:01:26.868
to become what we call[br]"citizen scientists,"

0:01:26.868,0:01:30.048
to activate all the things[br]that you're probably already doing -

0:01:30.048,0:01:32.891
Yes, planting flowers, getting beehives,

0:01:32.891,0:01:37.055
making bee hotels, habitats[br]for those lesser known pollinators,

0:01:37.055,0:01:39.349
but beyond that, going a step further,

0:01:39.349,0:01:42.597
and adding a data[br]collection element to it.

0:01:42.597,0:01:45.255
So, I'm going to show you[br]how to do this here today,

0:01:45.255,0:01:49.050
and I'm going to show you how[br]when my team shifted our perspective

0:01:49.050,0:01:51.037
away from bees that were dying

0:01:51.037,0:01:54.677
and toward maps and looking at[br]hot spots for bee health,

0:01:54.677,0:01:56.986
and shifting our perspective[br]away from honey

0:01:56.986,0:01:59.846
as just a sweet, sticky delicious food,

0:01:59.846,0:02:03.832
but to a source of information[br]that contains a blueprint

0:02:03.832,0:02:09.338
for healthy habitat suspended in time[br]in the only food that doesn't go bad.

0:02:09.338,0:02:11.185
That's where we find the hope

0:02:11.185,0:02:13.543
and that's what we'll do together today.

0:02:13.543,0:02:16.237
Now, I first started keeping bees [br]here in Cape Cod,

0:02:16.237,0:02:19.576
right after I finished my doctorate [br]in honeybee immunology.

0:02:19.576,0:02:21.177
(Laughter)

0:02:21.177,0:02:22.689
It was -

0:02:22.689,0:02:25.327
(Applause)

0:02:26.668,0:02:30.372
So, imagine getting such a degree[br]in a good economy -

0:02:30.372,0:02:31.466
(Laughter)

0:02:31.466,0:02:35.353
And it was 2009 - the great recession.

0:02:36.193,0:02:37.703
And I was onto something -

0:02:37.703,0:02:40.961
I knew that I could find out [br]how to improve bee health.

0:02:40.961,0:02:44.139
And that's when word started to spread[br]and I came here to Cape Cod

0:02:44.139,0:02:46.299
and I realized that this deep connection

0:02:46.299,0:02:50.391
that people have to the land here [br]is so true and long-standing -

0:02:50.392,0:02:54.066
probably because there's so little[br]of the land that is here,

0:02:54.066,0:02:55.627
we're connected to it.

0:02:55.627,0:02:58.795
And so the community on Cape Cod,[br]here in Provincetown,

0:02:58.795,0:03:00.556
was right for citizen science,

0:03:00.556,0:03:03.506
people looking for ways[br]to get involved and to help.

0:03:03.516,0:03:05.794
And so, we met with people[br]in coffee shops.

0:03:05.794,0:03:09.304
A wonderful woman named Natalie[br]got eight beehives at her home in Truro,

0:03:09.304,0:03:11.356
and she introduced us[br]to her friend Valerie,

0:03:11.356,0:03:16.766
who let us set up 60 beehives at[br]an abandoned tennis court on her property.

0:03:17.676,0:03:20.706
And so we started testing[br]vaccines for bees.

0:03:20.706,0:03:23.351
We were starting to look at probiotics.

0:03:23.351,0:03:25.176
We called it bee yogurt.

0:03:25.176,0:03:27.596
Ways to make bees healthier.

0:03:27.596,0:03:30.576
And our citizen science project[br]started to take off.

0:03:30.576,0:03:32.974
Word started to spread[br]and people started to think,

0:03:32.974,0:03:35.864
"Wow, I can get bees of my own[br]and their little data factory,

0:03:35.864,0:03:37.274
that's great!"

0:03:37.474,0:03:42.309
Meanwhile, back in my apartment here,[br]I was a bit nervous about my landlord.

0:03:42.309,0:03:44.509
I figured I should tell him[br]what we were doing.

0:03:44.509,0:03:45.639
(Laughter)

0:03:45.639,0:03:46.769
I was terrified.

0:03:46.769,0:03:49.297
I really thought I was going[br]to get an eviction notice

0:03:49.297,0:03:51.597
which really was the last thing[br]we needed, right?

0:03:51.597,0:03:53.737
I must have caught him [br]on a good day, though,

0:03:53.737,0:03:56.687
because when I told him what [br]we were doing and how we started

0:03:56.687,0:03:58.758
our non-profit urban[br]beekeeping laboratory,

0:03:58.758,0:04:02.578
he said, "That's great![br]Let's get a beehive in the back alley."

0:04:02.578,0:04:04.046
I was shocked!

0:04:04.046,0:04:05.716
I was completely surprised.

0:04:05.716,0:04:07.961
I mean, instead of getting [br]an eviction notice,

0:04:07.961,0:04:09.626
we got another data point.

0:04:09.645,0:04:12.075
And in the back alley of this image,

0:04:12.075,0:04:14.524
what you see here, this hidden beehive,

0:04:14.524,0:04:17.163
that beehive produced [br]more honey that first year

0:04:17.163,0:04:20.669
than we had ever experienced[br]in any beehive we had managed.

0:04:20.669,0:04:23.689
Over a hundred pounds of honey[br]that one year alone.

0:04:23.689,0:04:25.309
We didn't know what to do with it.

0:04:25.309,0:04:28.547
I mean, we were filling up [br]pickle jars with the stuff.

0:04:28.547,0:04:31.037
And since honey is the only food[br]that never goes bad,

0:04:31.037,0:04:33.060
the residents and tenants [br]in the community

0:04:33.060,0:04:35.023
are still enjoying that honey today.

0:04:35.023,0:04:37.926
It shifted our research [br]perspective forever.

0:04:37.926,0:04:40.050
It changed our research question away

0:04:40.050,0:04:42.529
from how do we save[br]the dead and dying bees

0:04:42.529,0:04:44.897
to where are bees doing best.

0:04:44.897,0:04:47.816
And we started to be able [br]to put maps together,

0:04:47.816,0:04:50.236
looking at all of these[br]citizen science beehives

0:04:50.236,0:04:54.604
from people who had beehives [br]at home decks, gardens, business rooftops.

0:04:54.634,0:04:56.397
And we started to engage the public,

0:04:56.397,0:04:58.887
and the more people who got[br]these little data points,

0:04:58.887,0:05:00.577
the more accurate our maps became.

0:05:00.617,0:05:03.809
And so when you're sitting here thinking,[br]"How can I get involved?",

0:05:03.809,0:05:06.188
you might think about[br]the story of my friend Fred,

0:05:06.188,0:05:08.108
who's a commercial real estate developer

0:05:08.108,0:05:10.073
and he was thinking the same thing.[br]

0:05:10.073,0:05:14.008
But even if you own a business,[br]you can be a citizen scientist too.

0:05:14.008,0:05:16.858
He was at a meeting[br]thinking about what he could do

0:05:16.858,0:05:20.018
for tenant relations[br]and sustainability at scale.

0:05:20.018,0:05:21.878
And while he was having a tea break,

0:05:21.878,0:05:24.775
he put honey into his tea[br]and noticed, on the honey jar,

0:05:24.775,0:05:28.825
a message about corporate sustainability[br]from the host company of that meeting

0:05:28.825,0:05:30.712
and it sparked an idea.

0:05:30.712,0:05:35.486
He came back to his office, an email,[br]a phone call later, and boom!

0:05:35.486,0:05:38.018
We went national together.

0:05:38.018,0:05:41.168
We put dozens of beehives[br]on the rooftops of their skyscrapers

0:05:41.168,0:05:44.066
across nine cities nationwide.

0:05:44.626,0:05:46.408
Nine years later -

0:05:46.408,0:05:48.543
(Applause)

0:05:49.639,0:05:54.627
Nine years later we have raised [br]over a million dollars for bee research.

0:05:54.627,0:05:59.246
We have a thousand beehives[br]as little data points across the country,

0:05:59.246,0:06:00.936
18 states and counting,

0:06:00.936,0:06:05.406
where we have created paying jobs[br]for local beekeepers - 65 of them -

0:06:05.406,0:06:07.945
to manage beehives[br]in their own communities,

0:06:07.945,0:06:12.865
to connect with people,[br]everyday people who are now data points,

0:06:12.865,0:06:15.306
together, making a difference.

0:06:15.306,0:06:17.996
So, in order to explain[br]what's actually been saving bees,

0:06:17.996,0:06:19.166
where they're thriving,

0:06:19.166,0:06:21.686
I need to first tell you[br]what's been killing them.

0:06:21.686,0:06:24.900
The top three killers of bees[br]are agricultural chemicals,

0:06:24.900,0:06:27.685
such as pesticides,[br]herbicides, fungicides;

0:06:27.685,0:06:30.118
diseases of bees, of which there are many;

0:06:30.118,0:06:31.717
and habitat loss.

0:06:31.717,0:06:33.742
So, what we did is we looked at our maps

0:06:33.742,0:06:36.328
and we identified areas [br]where bees were thriving,

0:06:36.328,0:06:38.868
and this was mostly in cities, we found.

0:06:38.868,0:06:41.850
Data are now showing[br]that urban beehives produce more honey

0:06:41.850,0:06:44.440
than rural beehives and suburban beehives.

0:06:44.460,0:06:49.608
Urban beehives have a longer lifespan[br]than rural and suburban beehives.

0:06:49.608,0:06:52.257
And bees in the city are more biodiverse;

0:06:52.257,0:06:54.425
there are more bee species in urban areas.

0:06:54.765,0:06:55.945
(Laughter)

0:06:55.945,0:06:57.126
Right?

0:06:57.336,0:06:59.376
"Why is this?"

0:06:59.376,0:07:00.716
That was our question.

0:07:00.716,0:07:04.006
So, we started with these 3 killers[br]of bees and we flipped it.

0:07:04.006,0:07:06.206
Which of these is different in the cities?

0:07:06.206,0:07:07.686
So, the first one: Pesticides.

0:07:07.686,0:07:10.350
We partnered up with the[br]Harvard School of Public Health.

0:07:10.350,0:07:12.725
We shared our data with them,[br]we collected samples

0:07:12.725,0:07:15.855
from our citizen science beehives[br]at people's homes and business rooftops.

0:07:15.855,0:07:17.485
And we looked at pesticides levels

0:07:17.485,0:07:21.615
and we thought there'd be less pesticides[br]in areas where bees are doing better.

0:07:21.615,0:07:22.731
That's not the case.

0:07:22.731,0:07:27.201
What we found here in our study[br]is that the orange bars are Boston,

0:07:27.201,0:07:29.381
and we thought those bars[br]would be the lowest,

0:07:29.381,0:07:32.841
there would be the lowest level[br]of pesticides and, in fact,

0:07:32.841,0:07:35.941
there are the most[br]pesticides in the cities.

0:07:36.221,0:07:38.998
So, the pesticide hypothesis[br]for what saving bees,

0:07:38.998,0:07:40.477
less pesticides in cities,

0:07:40.477,0:07:42.007
is not it.

0:07:42.007,0:07:45.397
And this is very typical[br]of my life as a scientist.[br]

0:07:45.877,0:07:47.737
Any time I've had a hypothesis,

0:07:47.737,0:07:50.667
not only is it not supported,[br]but the opposite is true.

0:07:50.667,0:07:51.888
(Laughter)

0:07:51.898,0:07:54.156
Which is still [br]an interesting finding, right?

0:07:54.156,0:07:55.156
We moved on.

0:07:55.156,0:07:56.556
The disease hypothesis.

0:07:56.556,0:07:58.946
We looked at diseases[br]all over our beehives

0:07:58.946,0:08:03.527
and what we found in similar study[br]to this one with the North Carolina State:

0:08:03.527,0:08:07.418
There's no difference between disease and[br]bees in urban, suburban and rural areas,

0:08:07.418,0:08:10.061
diseases are everywhere;[br]bees are sick and dying.

0:08:10.061,0:08:12.717
In fact, there were more[br]diseases of bees in cities.

0:08:12.717,0:08:14.767
This was from Raleigh, North Carolina.

0:08:14.767,0:08:17.028
So again, my hypothesis [br]was not supported,

0:08:17.028,0:08:18.669
the opposite was true.

0:08:18.669,0:08:19.969
We're moving on.

0:08:20.169,0:08:22.369
(Laughter)

0:08:22.369,0:08:24.518
The habitat hypothesis.

0:08:24.518,0:08:28.358
This said that areas where bees[br]are thriving have a better habitat.

0:08:28.358,0:08:29.928
More flowers, right?

0:08:29.928,0:08:31.768
But we didn't know how to test this.

0:08:31.768,0:08:34.608
So, I had a really interesting meeting [br]and an idea sparked

0:08:34.608,0:08:38.285
with my friend and colleague,[br]Anne Madden, fellow TED speaker,

0:08:38.285,0:08:42.715
and we thought about genomics,[br]kind of like AncestryDNA or 23andMe -

0:08:42.715,0:08:43.936
Have you done these?

0:08:43.936,0:08:47.241
You know, you spit in the tube [br]and you find out, "I'm German," right?

0:08:47.241,0:08:48.166
(Laughter)

0:08:48.166,0:08:50.288
We developed this for honey, right?

0:08:50.288,0:08:51.838
And so we have a sample of honey

0:08:51.838,0:08:55.186
and we look at all the plant DNA[br]and we find out, "I'm Sumac."

0:08:55.186,0:08:56.416
(Laughter)

0:08:56.416,0:08:58.929
And that's what we found here[br]in Provincetown,

0:08:58.929,0:09:01.599
and so, for the first time ever[br]I'm able to report to you

0:09:01.599,0:09:04.402
what type of honey is from right here[br]in our own community.

0:09:04.402,0:09:06.722
Honey DNA, a genomics test.

0:09:06.722,0:09:09.899
Spring honey in Provincetown[br]is from Privet.

0:09:09.899,0:09:11.129
What's Privet?

0:09:11.129,0:09:12.287
Hedges.

0:09:12.287,0:09:13.467
What's the message?

0:09:13.467,0:09:15.387
Don't trim your hedges to save the bees.

0:09:15.387,0:09:16.217
(Laughter)

0:09:16.217,0:09:16.991
Right?

0:09:16.991,0:09:19.719
I know we're getting crunchy here,[br]and it's controversial,

0:09:19.719,0:09:21.345
so before you throw your tomatoes,

0:09:21.345,0:09:24.091
let's move to the summer honey,[br]which is water-lily honey.

0:09:24.091,0:09:27.018
If you have honey from Provincetown,[br]right here in the summer,

0:09:27.018,0:09:28.750
you're eating water-lily juice.

0:09:28.750,0:09:31.050
In the fall, sumac honey.

0:09:31.050,0:09:34.360
We're learning about our food [br]for the first time ever

0:09:34.360,0:09:37.838
and now we are able to report,[br]if you need to do any city planning,

0:09:37.838,0:09:39.753
what are good things to plant,

0:09:39.753,0:09:43.419
what do we know the bees are going to[br]that's good for your garden.

0:09:43.447,0:09:46.807
What's more interesting for us[br]is deeper in the data.

0:09:46.807,0:09:50.379
So, if you are from the Caribbean[br]and you want to explore your heritage -

0:09:50.379,0:09:55.415
Bahamian honey is from the Laurel family;[br]cinnamon and avocado flavors.

0:09:55.445,0:09:58.406
But what's more interesting [br]is 85 different plant species

0:09:58.406,0:10:00.236
in one teaspoon of honey.

0:10:00.236,0:10:01.886
That's the measure that we want.

0:10:01.886,0:10:02.966
The big data.

0:10:02.966,0:10:04.536
Indian honey.

0:10:04.536,0:10:05.806
That is oak.

0:10:05.806,0:10:08.221
Every sample we tested from India is oak

0:10:08.221,0:10:13.198
and that's a 172 different flavours[br]in one taste of Indian honey.

0:10:13.198,0:10:16.828
Provincetown honey goes[br]from a 116 plants in the spring

0:10:16.828,0:10:20.067
to over 200 plants in the summer.

0:10:20.067,0:10:23.535
These are the numbers that we need[br]to test the habitat hypothesis

0:10:23.535,0:10:25.373
in another citizen science approach.

0:10:25.373,0:10:28.533
You find out about your food[br]and we get some interesting data.

0:10:28.533,0:10:30.748
So, we're finding out now [br]that in rural areas

0:10:30.748,0:10:34.238
there are a 150 plants on average[br]in a sample of honey.

0:10:34.238,0:10:35.897
That's a measure for rural.

0:10:35.897,0:10:37.927
Suburban areas, what might you think?

0:10:37.927,0:10:42.109
Do they have less or more plants[br]in suburban areas with lawns -

0:10:42.109,0:10:45.894
that look nice for people[br]but they're terrible for pollinators?

0:10:45.894,0:10:48.649
Suburbs have very low plant diversity,

0:10:48.649,0:10:50.394
so if you have a beautiful lawn,

0:10:50.394,0:10:53.558
well, good for you, but you can do more.

0:10:53.558,0:10:56.748
You can have a patch of your lawn[br]that's a wildflower medow

0:10:56.748,0:11:00.492
to diversify your habitat[br]to improve pollinator health.

0:11:00.492,0:11:02.280
Anybody can do this.

0:11:02.280,0:11:04.778
Urban areas have the most habitat.

0:11:04.778,0:11:08.370
The best habitat they have -

0:11:08.370,0:11:10.778
As you can see here, [br]over 200 different plants.

0:11:10.778,0:11:14.864
We have, for the first time ever,[br]support for the habitat hypothesis.

0:11:14.864,0:11:18.014
We also now know [br]how we can work with cities.

0:11:18.014,0:11:22.016
The city of Boston has eight times [br]better habitat than its nearby suburbs.

0:11:22.016,0:11:25.822
And so when we work with governments,[br]we can scale this.

0:11:25.832,0:11:29.776
You might think on my tombstone it'll say,[br]"Here lies Noah, plant a flower," right?

0:11:29.776,0:11:31.006
(Laughter)

0:11:31.006,0:11:33.697
It's exhausting after all of this, right?

0:11:33.697,0:11:35.376
But when we scale together,

0:11:35.376,0:11:37.549
when we go to governments[br]and city planners -

0:11:37.549,0:11:39.929
Like, in Boston, the honey [br]is mostly Linden trees,

0:11:39.929,0:11:43.069
and we say, "If a dead tree needs[br]to be replaced, consider Linden."

0:11:43.069,0:11:46.587
So, when we take this information[br]to governments, we can do amazing things.

0:11:46.587,0:11:48.873
This is a rooftop from Fred's company.

0:11:48.879,0:11:52.428
We can plant those things[br]on top of rooftops worldwide

0:11:52.428,0:11:55.548
to start restoring habitat[br]and securing food systems.

0:11:55.548,0:11:57.239
We've worked with the World Bank,

0:11:57.239,0:11:59.966
and the presidential delegation[br]from the country of Haiti.

0:11:59.966,0:12:03.606
We've worked with wonderful graduate[br]students at Yale University in Ethiopia,

0:12:03.606,0:12:07.415
and in these countries we can add value[br]to their honey by identifying what it is,

0:12:07.415,0:12:10.599
but informing the people[br]of what to plant to restore their habitats

0:12:10.599,0:12:12.722
and secure their food systems.

0:12:12.722,0:12:16.541
But what I think is even more important[br]is when we think about natural disasters.

0:12:16.541,0:12:19.691
For the first time, we now know[br]how we can have a baseline measure

0:12:19.691,0:12:22.761
of any habitat before[br]it might be destroyed.

0:12:22.776,0:12:24.456
Think about your hometown.

0:12:24.456,0:12:28.036
What risks does[br]the environment pose to it?

0:12:28.036,0:12:31.368
This is how we're going to save[br]Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

0:12:31.368,0:12:34.378
We now have a baseline measure of honey,

0:12:34.378,0:12:37.068
honey DNA from before and after the storm.

0:12:37.092,0:12:39.179
We started in Humacao.

0:12:39.179,0:12:41.629
This is right where[br]Hurricane Maria made landfall.

0:12:41.629,0:12:45.520
And we know what plants to replace,[br]and in what quantity and where,

0:12:45.520,0:12:48.399
by triangulating honey DNA samples.

0:12:48.977,0:12:52.637
You might even think about right here,[br]the beautiful land that connected us,

0:12:52.637,0:12:55.876
that primed all the[br]citizen science to begin with.

0:12:55.876,0:13:00.007
The erosion, the winter storms[br]that are getting more violent every year.

0:13:00.007,0:13:03.657
What are we going to do about this,[br]our precious land?

0:13:03.657,0:13:04.994
While looking at honey DNA,

0:13:04.994,0:13:07.205
we can see what plants[br]are good for pollinators

0:13:07.205,0:13:10.049
that have deep roots[br]that can secure the land.

0:13:10.049,0:13:14.916
And together, everybody can participate[br]and the solution fits in a teaspoon.

0:13:14.916,0:13:19.682
If your hometown might get swept away[br]or destroyed by a natural disaster,

0:13:19.682,0:13:25.899
we now have a blueprint suspended in time[br]for how to restore that on Earth,

0:13:25.899,0:13:29.982
or perhaps even in a greenhouse on Mars.

0:13:29.982,0:13:33.653
I know it sounds crazy,[br]but think about this,

0:13:33.653,0:13:35.485
a new Provincetown,

0:13:35.935,0:13:38.004
a new hometown,

0:13:38.164,0:13:39.813
a place that might be familiar

0:13:39.813,0:13:42.938
that's also good for pollinators [br]for a stable food system,

0:13:42.938,0:13:44.913
when we're thinking about the future.

0:13:44.913,0:13:47.963
Now, together we know what's saving bees:

0:13:47.963,0:13:50.092
By planting diverse habitats.

0:13:50.092,0:13:52.352
We know how bees are going to save us:

0:13:52.352,0:13:55.796
By being barometers[br]for environmental health,

0:13:55.796,0:13:58.578
by being blueprints,[br]sources of information,

0:13:58.578,0:14:01.656
little data factories, suspended in time.

0:14:01.656,0:14:05.396
And now you all know exactly[br]what you can do as citizen scientists

0:14:05.396,0:14:07.033
to get beehives.

0:14:07.033,0:14:08.275
Thank you.

0:14:08.275,0:14:10.395
(Applause)