The Honey Trap

Exposing the misguided assumptions behind an altruistic trend The last decade has seen an explosion of urban beekeeping in the US, Canada, and Europe, a well-intentioned response to perceived threats to the global honey bee population. Many thousands of people have taken up this seemingly environmentally friendly hobby, tending backyard and rooftop hives (or paying a company to do so) and encouraging honey bees to make honey and pollinate flowers. What could be wrong with that? Quite a lot, in fact. In The Honey Trap, scientist and author Dana Church demonstrates that despite reports to the contrary, honey bees are nowhere near extinction. Rather, their nurturing by urban beekeepers is having far-reaching and potentially devastating consequences for the 19,999 other species of bees on the planet, with knock-on effects for plants, both cultivated and wild, and our ecosystems more generally. With engaging storytelling and a...