Bees do it

As far as the health of the planet is concerned the human race is less significant than bees and plankton according to a recent Earthwatch debate in London.

Earthwatch has been running these balloon-style debates for a few years now where academics take the platform at the Royal Geographical Society and argue in favour of a particular environmental cause or species.

This time the voting audience had to rank bees, bats, primates (including us), fungi and plankton in order of their importance to the environment. Prof David Thomas almost won the day with plankton but George McGavin swung it for bees with an argument that highlighted the plight of declining bee numbers, globally.

A quarter of a million species of flowering plants depend on bees. Many of these plant species are crucial to world agriculture. Forget your apples and oranges without bees. Some bee populations are in trouble yet a world without them would be "totally catastrophic," said McGavin.

It's good to know where we come in Earth's pecking order. I can't say I was surprised to discover that humans came behind plankton. In my experience it's not always easy to tell them apart.

If, like me, you missed the debate, there's a chance to catch it on BBC Radio Four at 8pm, New Year's Eve.

The picture here shows bees winning a previous debate.

George Mallory's boot

In all the recent financial chaos I have forgotten to write about a more pleasant experience involving an Earthwatch meeting and a visit to the Royal Geographical Society.

I have been a trustee of Earthwatch Europe for many years and welcomed a recent suggestion to pool many of the resources of European and US, Japanese and Australian affiliates.

Because of charity law we cannot pool financial resources and must remain distinct charities but that has not prevented us from creating a joint body which shares many of the same employees, thus preventing duplication of expensive staff.

The respective charity trustees and senior staff met, therefore, over two days in London to agree the ground rules and structure of the organisation in future (or "going forward") as we were reminded constantly.

Have you noticed how much that needless phrase is used by executives? We're not standing still or going backwards, so why do some feel the need to be using the words "going forward" all the time? The answer is that the phrase is used unconsciously like much other management jargon as a kind of "filler".

Anyway after spending most of the day going forward at the RGS it was exciting to go back in time as we were led down to the research rooms where a table had been laid out with some of the prize exhibits from the society's collection of two million items (including a million maps).

There was George Mallory's boot recovered from the slopes of Everest, an oxygen pack from the 1953 successful Everest expedition led by Sir John Hunt, a Burberry's hood worn by Sir Ernest Shackleton, and, best of all the hats worn by David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley at their historic meeting in Africa. It made the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

It felt very special to be viewing these treasures but - and this is the great thing about the society's collection - these items are there for any of us to see on request if we pay the modest fee for a research day.

Earthwatch has moved on some, since I became a trustee and today it plays an ever strengthening role in partnering with companies, helping to enlighten employees on some of the most pressing environmental issues of our times. One of its strongest partnerships has been established with HSBC Bank. At a time that the banking sector is struggling it is good to see that this programme is demonstrating the positive measures that can be undertaken by enlightened employers.

David Rattray - historian and speaker

Anyone who went along to the lectures on Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana given annually at the Royal Geographical Society over the last few years, or was lucky enough to visit his lodge, Fugitive's Drift, will know something about David Rattray's extraordinary storytelling qualities.

Within two minutes of listening to a Rattray talk, you were there, standing in the smoke and battle, witnessing the scenes unfolding as he described them with a rare combination of passion, detail and empathy.

So it was with great sadness I discovered he had been murdered by members of an an armed gang that broke in to his lodge last week. South Africa is a beautiful country. It deserves better than this.

Daily Telegraph obituary.