The Insect Apocalypse Spells Doom For Humans
All life is going down the drain
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The Insect Apocalypse Spells Doom For Humans
My partner and I got married in mid-2004 and we bought our first marital house together at the beginning of that year. It was a modest bi-level house in rural suburbia on an acre of land, surrounded by a forest, streams, lakes, and lots of wildlife.
As pending newlyweds we did what every couple does with a new home, we imprinted ourselves onto it. We fell victim to the expectations of what new homeowners should do and where to spend our money. We had a big brownish lawn and I got to work throwing chemicals onto it. She got busy building flower beds and bought plants from Lowes or Home Depot.
Together, we “tamed” our property and ripped out lots of native plants, and cut down trees. We transformed our property into what we thought was paradise. It looked green and pretty but something was wrong.
It was sterile.
Our children were born in rapid succession; we “went forth and multiplied” rather quickly. I love my children very much but having children is like introducing a small hurricane into your daily life and routine. You never know when volatility strikes.
As we tended to our offspring our yard work began to suffer. The attention it required was more than what we could offer. Over time I stopped throwing chemicals in the yard and my partner stopped expanding her flower gardens. Instead, we focused on managing what we could in a very low-energy way.
One morning, I walked out the front door with my coffee and stood in front of my partner’s rose garden. I saw a stick bug in between the rose bush leaves. I was amazed and called for my partner to come out. She ran outside and we marveled at this little insect superstar for a few minutes.
I finished my coffee, kissed her goodbye, and got into my car. I pulled out of my driveway and noticed birds on my front lawn for the first time in ages.
Something was changing, our property was coming back to life.
I took my Medium writings in a new direction after returning from a trip to the desert. It was a glorious trip and one where I reconnected myself to that complex land. For the first time in a long time, I felt a long-dormant voice spring back to life. A voice that’s needed now more than ever.
One of my first essays was about how little insects remain where I live. I opined about the lack of dirty windshields, on how there are no more bug splatters when driving on a warm summer night. This is happening everywhere.
As a boy in the 1960s, David Wagner would run around his family’s Missouri farm with a glass jar clutched in his hand, scooping flickering fireflies out of the sky.
“We could fill it up and put it by our bedside at night,” says Wagner, now an entomologist.
That’s all gone, the family farm now paved over with new homes and manicured lawns. And Wagner’s beloved fireflies — like so many insects worldwide — have largely vanished in what scientists are calling the global Insect Apocalypse. via Reuters
Yes, there is an Insect Apocalypse happening, and it’s setting in motion a massive floral and fauna extinction.
Why? Because insects are the largest group of living things in the world and they feed just about every other living organism directly or indirectly. Insects pollinate our food, they break down cow dung, and they add to our economic growth as well as our quality of life.
Mosquitos are annoying but they support a massive ecosystem above them.
If insects collapse, the rest of the ecosystem will collapse, and we’re well on our way.
The world has lost 5% to 10% of all insect species in the last 150 years — or between 250,000 and 500,000 species, according to a February 2020 study in the journal Biological Conservation. Those losses are continuing, though estimates vary due to patchy data as well as uncertainty over how many insects exist. — via Reuters
We have to stop what we’re doing. Stop buying iPhones. Stop watching the Kardashians. Stop everything and fix this problem now.
We need to focus on lowering our environmental footprints. We need to stop having children. We need to stop consuming so damn much. We need to start living frugally in all aspects before we’re forced to live like paupers, wondering where our next meal will come.
We need to rip out our lawns and plant native plants. We need to stop using chemicals. We need to keep and raise bees. We need to transform every yard, every subdivision, and every city into a haven for insects and pollinators.
We don’t have a lot of time left. If insects die in an apocalypse we humans will be next in the queue.
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