PRESS RELEASE:

From crop fields to hi-tech labs, NATURE follows scientists and bee experts investigating a rapidly unfolding ecological nightmare of massive die-off of bees. A special encore presentation of "Silence of the Bees" airs Sunday, July 26, 2009, at 7 p.m. on KUED-Channel 7. Originally presented in October 2007, the film won a prestigious Peabody Award for broadcast excellence. Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham narrates.

"This is the first in-depth documentary to cover this ecological crisis," says Fred Kaufman, executive producer of NATURE. "People may be stunned to discover just how dire the consequences of honeybee colony collapse could be."

Honeybees are responsible for one of every three bites of food we eat. Each year, they pollinate $14 billion worth of crops and seeds in the U.S. alone. Their total decimation would be catastrophic, from the local to the global level - failed businesses, skyrocketing food prices, unsustainable labor costs and depleted supplies of fruits, nuts, vegetables, plants and more.

In addition to the broadcast, NATURE online (pbs.org/nature) will feature extensive updates on this critical phenomenon since the film first aired. Online content will include interviews with featured scientists and farmers affected by the crisis. Among them: Dr. Diana Cox-Foster, head of the CCD working group; Dennis vanEngelsdorp, state apiarist for Pennsylvania; and David Hackenberg, the beekeeper who first alerted offcials to the massive die-offs of bees. NATURE will also stream "Silence of the Bees" online in its entirety at pbs.org/nature.

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