Honey is sweet, and great on toast.
But it also plays a central role in nature's complex web of turning sunlight into life.
The process begins with flowering plants, which are really successful at turning sunlight
into sugar, and live on mountains, in deserts, high in canopies and deep in the shade on
forest floors.
But plants often depend on insects like bees to spread their pollen so they can reproduce.
The bees are attracted by pollen, the perfect bee food, as well as by sugary nectar, which
they bring back to their hive.
House bees hold the nectar out on their tongues to dry and then place what's left in a hexagonal
wax cell with enzymes for further curing.
Voilá!
Honey.
A typical hive might have 50,000 bees who in total travel more than 2.5 million miles
to visit 100 million flowers to produce 50 lbs of honey.
With enough trips from hive to flower and back again, bees make and store enough honey
to sustain the hive over winter.
But it's not just bees that like honey - I love it, as do raccoons, bears, and of course,
honey badgers.
As a source of sweetness, distinctive flavor, and concentration of sunlight into energy,
honey has no equal.
Except perhaps, MinuteEarth.
Bear with us.
Both honey and MinuteEarth videos are dense, sweet, and the product of lots of work.
To make a MinuteEarth video, our team of writer bees gathers knowledge from scientists and
then holds it on their tongues to dry out...
I mean, works with the illustrator bees to concentrate it into two minutes of drawings,
clover puns and beeutiful music before sharing with you.
However, unlike real bees, the team making MinuteEarth can't eat our work to survive
the winter.
And while we want nothing more than to keep making videos for you, the advertisements
and sponsorships we rely on haven't been able to cover all of our costs, and ideally, we'd
like to put our videos out there with fewer ads.
That's why we're asking you to help support MinuteEarth through Subbable, a site that's
like a combination of kickstarter and a public radio pledge drive.
No amount is too small, and your contributions will add up in a perk bank from which you
can redeem other sweets, like MinuteEarth posters, personalized drawings from the MinuteEarth
team, your name featured at the end of a video, and more!
Every worker bee produces less than a 10th of a teaspoon of honey over the course of
a summer, but together 50,000 bees can sustain a hive.
In the same way, small contributions from enough people like you can make sure the MinuteEarth
honey keeps flowing freely week after week.
And that would be the bee's knees.
To help support us on Subbable either click the link here or in the description, or go
to subbable.com/minuteeearth.
For those who have already contributed, thank you so much for helping make this show possible!