This TEDx talk offers insight into what the humble honeybee can teach us about living more harmoniously on Earth. Honeybees are a pragmatic example through which to view broader international relations questions concerning food systems, sustainable livelihoods, global trade, and global environmental politics. Not only are bees directly implicated in these issues, they are an emblem of the challenges of dealing with complexity and inter-dependent systems in a globally connected, inter-dependent world.

Video Supervisor: Ford Fischer
Filmed by Arun Raman, Delana Listman, and Elaina Kimes
Edited by Elaina Kimes and Ford Fischer

Recorded in The Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre at American University, Washington, DC

Dr. Eve Bratman’s research concerns sustainable development politics and environmental governance. Her major projects focus on the links between environmental policy, infrastructure, agriculture, and human rights in the Brazilian Amazon. Her book manuscript, based on a decade of research in Brazil, is tentatively entitled Governing the Rainforest: Sustainable Development Politics in the Brazilian Amazon. Dr. Bratman also has expertise in urban politics and development issues in the Americas, including in Washington DC. She is American University’s lead beekeeper, and serves as faculty advisor for the American University Beekeeping Society. Her next book project is about the honeybee in global politics.