What If All Bees Went Extinct?
It's not just about the honey - if bees were to disappear our diets would never be the same.
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00:00 (music)
00:11 Food is scarce.
00:13 Money is worthless.
00:16 Riots are everywhere.
00:19 The world is in chaos.
00:22 This isn't our past.
00:24 It's our future.
00:27 This is WHAT IF,
00:29 and here's what would happen
00:30 if bees went extinct.
00:33 Humans and bees have a bit of a love-hate relationship.
00:36 On one hand, there's this.
00:38 "No, not the bees! Not the bees!
00:41 Aaaaaaah!
00:43 I love my eyes! My eyes! Aaaaaaah!"
00:46 But then, who doesn't love this?
00:49 It's a little more complicated than that.
00:52 Bees do more than just sting and make honey.
00:55 They happen to pollinate most of the crops we consume,
00:59 while contributing roughly $200 billion
01:01 to the global economy each year.
01:04 And this is how we repay them.
01:07 Global warming and increased pesticide use in agriculture
01:10 are key reasons why bee populations are in decline.
01:14 What does this mean for humans?
01:16 If we're not careful,
01:18 we'll soon find ourselves in a very sticky situation.
01:23 Within three months of the last bee dying,
01:25 crop yields around the world would plummet.
01:29 Your grocery store would lose half its produce,
01:31 sending the cost of fruits and vegetables skyward.
01:35 But you wouldn't only lose fruits and vegetables.
01:38 You'd also have to say goodbye to almonds,
01:40 coconuts,
01:41 chocolate,
01:42 and dare I say it,
01:44 coffee.
01:46 Without bees, other pollinators like birds,
01:49 bats, and butterflies
01:50 would have to pick up the slack.
01:52 But would they be enough?
01:54 In an absolute worst-case scenario,
01:57 the extinction of bees would cause food chains to collapse.
02:01 First, plants start dying off
02:03 because they're not getting pollinated.
02:05 And then our favorite herbivores are the next to go.
02:09 Consider livestock.
02:11 Almond hulls are considered a high-quality
02:13 and good-value feed ingredient for cows and chickens.
02:16 But as we mentioned before,
02:18 almond trees are pollinated by bees.
02:22 If you think steaks are pricey now,
02:24 just wait till the bees disappear.
02:26 A lot of meat and dairy products would go with them,
02:29 turning familiar favorites like the cheeseburger
02:32 into a rare, extravagant delicacy.
02:36 And when you combine severe food shortages
02:39 and soaring inflation
02:40 with a growing population of over 7 billion people,
02:44 well, it's not a very pretty picture.
02:48 Of course, there are other ways to see this scenario.
02:51 Corn, wheat, and rice, for example,
02:53 are wind-pollinated crops,
02:55 so we'd still have stuff to eat if the bees went extinct.
02:58 But having lost most fruits and vegetables,
03:01 be prepared to adopt a bland, less nutritious diet.
03:06 But it may not have to come to that.
03:08 In certain parts of China,
03:09 humans have started to hand-pollinate their crops,
03:12 while drone pollination and even robot pollinators
03:15 are other avenues to consider.
03:18 Although these options might promise a normal life
03:20 without bees,
03:22 you can imagine the increase in cost.
03:24 We'd be paying a lot more
03:26 for something Mother Nature now gives us for free.
03:29 So let's not turn down a good deal.
03:32 Since the 1960s,
03:33 the volume of agricultural production
03:35 that relies on pollinators has gone up 300%.
03:40 And all it takes for us to keep this kind of growth sustainable
03:43 is to treat our planet better.
03:45 So let's do what we can
03:47 to keep our world at a normal temperature.
03:49 Let's see if we can find safer alternatives to pesticides.
03:53 Let's put our trust in some of the natural world's hardest workers.
03:58 Because while the little things are often easy to overlook,
04:02 their impact is hard to ignore.
04:05 See how the future will unfold,
04:07 next time on WHAT IF.
04:09 ♪
04:15 Hey, thanks for watching!
04:17 And don't forget to comment,
04:18 write in your What If ideas down below.
04:21 ♪
04:26 [silence]