How to pronounce "canary"

It's great being here at TED.

You know, I think there might be some presentations

that will go over my head,

but the most amazing concepts

are the ones that go right under my feet.

The little things in life,

sometimes that we forget about,

like pollination, that we take for granted.

And you can't tell the story about pollinators --

bees, bats, hummingbirds, butterflies --

without telling the story about the invention of flowers

and how they co-evolved

over 50 million years.

I've been filming time-lapse flowers

24 hours a day, seven days a week,

for over 35 years.

To watch them move

is a dance I'm never going to get tired of.

It fills me with wonder, and it opens my heart.

Beauty and seduction, I believe,

is nature's tool for survival,

because we will protect what we fall in love with.

Their relationship

is a love story that feeds the Earth.

It reminds us that we are a part of nature,

and we're not separate from it.

When I heard about the vanishing bees, Colony Collapse Disorder,

it motivated me to take action.

We depend on pollinators

for over a third of the fruits and vegetables we eat.

And many scientists believe

it's the most serious issue facing mankind.

It's like the canary in the coalmine.

If they disappear, so do we.

It reminds us that we are a part of nature

and we need to take care of it.

What motivated me to film their behavior

was something that I asked my scientific advisers:

"What motivates the pollinators?"

Well, their answer was,

"It's all about risk and reward."

Like a wide-eyed kid, I'd say, "Why is that?"

And they'd say, "Well, because they want to survive."

I go, "Why?"

"Well, in order to reproduce."

"Well, why?"

And I thought that they'd probably say, "Well, it's all about sex."

And Chip Taylor, our monarch butterfly expert,

he replied, "Nothing lasts forever.

Everything in the universe wears out."

And that blew my mind.

Because I realized

that nature had invented reproduction

as a mechanism for life to move forward,

as a life force that passes right through us

and makes us a link in the evolution of life.

Rarely seen by the naked eye,

this intersection

between the animal world and the plant world

is truly a magic moment.

It's the mystical moment

where life regenerates itself,

over and over again.

So here is some nectar from my film.

I hope you'll drink, tweet

and plant some seeds

to pollinate a friendly garden.

And always take time to smell the flowers,

and let it fill you with beauty,

and rediscover that sense of wonder.

Here are some images from the film.

(Music)

(Applause)

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause)