Sometimes, finding a solution means knowing more about the problem. This is often true when encountering challenges around ecology, and the health of the planet. It helps to remember that in the biological world, so many things are interconnected that discovery often becomes complex.

Take this testimony from Noah Wilson-Rich, who spoke at a recent Planet Action event (disclaimer: I help to host these events annually) about what we must do in aid of ecology and about the example of bees.

“We did everything we could to save the bees,” Wilson-Rich began. “We filled our rooftops with beehives. We planted gardens. We bought local honey. We shared infographics about colony collapse disorder. And the number of beehives in the United States reached an all-time high. So, mission accomplished, right? Wrong. We caused an ecological disaster and we lit the fuse on a $577 billion ecological time bomb.”

Why did this happen? Wilson-Rich contends we just didn’t have enough context. One big fact is that there are many different species of bees, not just one.

“There are 20,000 species of bees,” he said, emphasizing that number. “20,000. And that’s only 10% of pollinators around the world. Now, honeybees, that’s one species. This European honeybee that’s very well managed.”

Wilson-Rich suggested this thought exercise.

“Imagine if I went into the audience right now,” he added, “and I said, ‘Hey, front row, let’s give you all the resources. Let’s give you all the food. The rest of you, deal with it.’ That’s what we did with bees. We gave them all of our resources to honeybees. We gave them all the rooftops. We did everything we could. And yet, we didn’t connect it to data, to measurements, to technology to fully understand the systems that we were changing. And here we are now. Honey bees have outcompeted other pollinators for resources who have, now, less food to eat. They’ve even spread disease.”

Citing some authors on chilling predictions for societies that don’t value biodiversity, Wilson-Rich spoke to the failure of the Save the Bees movement.

“We took to the streets. We took collective action at its finest. Everything that we could do, and yet we didn’t connect it to data and technology to understand what we were doing.”

Wilson-Rich revealed his fondness for an acronym LAB, for: Learn, Adapt, and Be better.

“Bee with two E’s, of course,” he clarified.

A Blueprint for Biodiversity

In another bit of alliteration, Wilson-Rich called for a real framework to guide us in avoiding some of the most dire problems associated with the demise of species diversity.

“We need measurable data and tech-driven biodiversity action at scale,” he said.

As to the related methodology:

“We take baseline measures,” Wilson-Rich continued, “and then we set goals for what data we want to see, how much we want to improve biodiversity by, and then we measure along the way, and we test those, and we look at the impact of our actions.”

In further explication, Wilson-Rich took aim at broader views of the pollinator system.

“When we look at the environmental DNA as a way to understand the pollinator system,” he said, “we see on the right hand side that bees in healthy areas are feeding on native plants. Native plant abundance is the factor that’s most closely associated with improved bee health. And in areas … that have below average bee health, we see those areas have less native plant biodiversity.”

The United States, he explained, lost two out of every three beehives just within the past year.

“Three years ago, we passed the tipping point where we lost more beehives than survived,” he said. “So if every two out of three beehives in America are dying, what does this say about the system that we’re changing? Oh, we put beehives on the roof, and now we’re good. No, we need to take measurements. We need to look at other species and do better.”

Here’s how Wilson-Rich described the benefit of this kind of work:

“We know that from the data driving ROI, return on investment for companies that there are tremendous benefits for biodiversity here. We understand that we have 45% of an increase in creativity, 15 fewer sick days of employees, over 30% of an increase in productivity of workers that look at nature from their offices. Sometimes we call this … biophilic design.”

It’s also good, he noted, for property values.

“When we’re looking at property values, we understand that there’s an increase in property values with biodiversity, with rooftops that extend the lifespan of a roof by two to three times,” Wilson-Rich said. “We understand that LEED certification and other ones add value to the buildings. They make these desirable properties that can help the business case for real estate, and developers, and individual homeowners, and renters. Who doesn’t want to be able to grow carrots on the rooftop for your family? We can do this, and it helps business.”

During his presentation, Wilson-Rich referenced various kinds of small business projects that can have a positive impact, including Fenway Farms, a program called VCs for Bees, and properties hosting branded forest lands. All of this, he suggested, prepares us for a world where the environment is more fully valued.

“Adding technology to enhance your experience, you can go further as a business, as a homeowner, reduce your lighting at night or at a green rooftop, change your lawn to a meadow … and set those goals prospectively,” he said. “We’re doing this not just for the bees, but we are going to make sure that we’re taking them with us.”

I thought this was a good example of what we need to learn, if we’re going to implement AI in the right ways. Stay tuned.