ESL Discussion: What happened to the beepocalypse?

I remember when I first started teaching English several years ago and was looking for some good discussion topics for my advanced students. The topic of the bee apocalypse was still everywhere. It was like one of twelve topics that circulated and circulated on all the resource websites. It felt like such a big deal at the time! I definitely used it in my classroom.

I remember when the problem first came up to, back in 2006-2008. It felt like the end of the world was upon us. Everyone was talking about it. Then, I guess, some other things happened. However, I still heard whispers of the problem from time to time. Ecologically-conscious friends and colleagues would cite the disappearing bees in conversations about climate change, overpopulation, humanity’s impact on the Earth, etc.

So in my mind, until putting this discussion together, the bees were still disappearing. Call me uninformed…

Here is an update on the beepocalypse problem in America. You’ll notice the video is from 2018, but I did some research on the current state of affairs, and it checks out. Honeybees are not disappearing in the way it was exaggerated back in the early 2000’s. That’s a good thing! Here is helpful article written by the same journalist who wrote a Time feature titled “A world without bees” which he says “did not age well.”

In any case, there is a lot to talk about in terms of sensationalism, human nature and other alarmist issues today. Get ready for a great discussion!