Alison Benjamin along with her partner have traveled across Europe and North America investigating the plight of the honeybee, which is disappearing across the globe at an alarming rate. From commercial almond farmers in California to local honey cultivators in the English countryside, all suffer from lonely hives that are filled with baby bees where all the adults have disappeared. Alison is the Society Editor of the Guardian and co-founder of Urban Bees which is a social enterprise that is bringing bees to cities. She is an activist for the safety of bees and her mission is to create bee-friendly cities by creating plentiful forage and habitat for all types of urban bees. She believes that as we are all interconnected, bee-friendly cities are better for humans too since they are more resilient to flooding and climate change and will greatly enhance human wellbeing.
Urban Bees was set up a few years ago by Alison Benjamin and her partner Brian McCallum who started beekeeping in west London in 2006 with one hive at the bottom of the garden. They wanted to share their passion for their new hobby with other urban dwellers. She is the co-author of Keeping Bees and Making Honey, A World without Bees and Bees in the City; an urban beekeepers' handbook.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
