Monday, July 24, 2023
It is Buggy Out There
Those of us who are environmentalists have drifted big time into promoting bugs. Every year I attend a festival about bugs. I work with small children and encourage them to see the world as though it was a tapestry with many threads holding things together and insects being a very important group of knots in that tapestry. I emphasize how 99% of bugs are passive and just want to live like we do. I talk to adults and ask them to reevaluate the damage to their plants before spraying and eradicating unless the insect is non-native and introduced and you use safe methods. Sometimes the damage to the plant is tolerable. I emphasize to all that we will not survive on a planet with fewer and fewer insects.
"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." And since we have not really had research on insects comprehensively over time, I think this estimate is conservative.
There is an excellent article here if you want with some beautiful illustrations and interactive graphs. Go on and check it out. What else have you got to do on this hot summer day?
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Good post
ReplyDeleteI'm pro bug.
I love Bugs, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI taught my kids and my grandkids not to kill things, bugs and the like, just because they can and the thing is there. they deserve their own little lives just like you do, I told them, and they aren't hurting you. I don't even kill wasps unless they are trying to build a nest somewhere where it is likely I'll unintentionally alarm them and even then I don't kill them, just remove the nest when no one is home. it took me three tries to discourage them from one spot but they eventually moved on.
ReplyDeleteMost bugs found indoors, except for stink bugs, huge Texas water bugs aka giant roaches, flies and mosquitoes, are released into the great outdoors. We do not use pesticides. Fly swatters work just as well on mosquitoes as flies. Wasps never bother anyone so we don’t bother then. Beneficials are just that. Beneficial.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but this post is hitting me at the wrong time. Bugs - mosquitos - are ruining my summer, driving me indoors by mid afternoon.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of insects. With such beautiful critters , who wouldn't want to protect them.
ReplyDeleteNe\ver thought about that. Bees yes, others no.
ReplyDeleteI think I could live without the nasty roaches and mosquitoes, but all the others I am willing to handle.
ReplyDelete