14 ms·

Insects Are in Serious Trouble

292 points by ALee 9y ago

j_s 9y ago
I believe the primary source was discussed last week. (Discussion is still open but ain't nobody got time for that once it's off the front page!) 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 (Oct 2017, 428 comments)
- titzer 9y ago
  This article gives even more supporting evidence, citing declines in butterflies and honeybees from other sources.
  - j_s 9y ago
    Pretty sure these were pulled as highlights from the "References" section, but I can't guarantee that beyond confirming they are listed there. The article does add some interpretive commentary quoting experts. The best TL;DR I could grab from the previous discussion: >MrBuddyCasino https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15503474 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15503474 Der Spiegel discusses issues in the methodology of the data collection. The intervals over the years weren't uniform, data was collected by volunteers/hobbyists and they did not measure the dry mass weight. There are differing opinions whether or not those issues have relevance. SZ gives some details on suspected causes. Neither climate change (warmer weather should yield more insects, not less) nor changes in plant diversity can explain the observed effects alone. Main suspects: - agricultural fertilizers, especially nitrogen - pesticides, especially neonicotinoides
- _rpd 9y ago
  > 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas The measurements took place in protected areas in Germany. Have there been similar studies for other locations? Edit: It appears that almost all the measurements took place at locations in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany's most populous state ... > S1 Fig. Map of study area. > Insect trap locations (yellow points) in Nordrhein-Westfalen (n = 57), Rheinland-Pfalz (n = 1) and Brandenburg (n = 5)
- athenot 9y ago
  Last week's article motivated me to plant Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa and Asclepias incarnata) in my garden next year, to help with the population of Monarch butterflies and bees. On the other hand, I'll still be deploying my organic mosquito control based on plant oils injected into a mister system. I really don't think mosquitoes fulfill any role in the ecosystem that can't be filled in by other species; but the difficulty is in avoiding messing with any other insects.
  - zzalpha 9y ago
    I really don't think mosquitoes fulfill any role in the ecosystem that can't be filled in by other species This is literally the exact kind of hubris that got us in this mess in the first place...
  - always_good 9y ago
    Mosquitos pollenate plants. And they're an important food item for migrating bugs and birds. Less than 40% of them feed on blood, nor is it their only diet among those that do. It's interesting how matter of factly you spread such a casual opinion about what our ecosystem does and doesn't need.
  - hvidgaard 9y ago
    > I really don't think mosquitoes fulfill any role in the ecosystem that can't be filled in by other species They are so ubiquitous and numerous that they are without a doubt an important part of the food chain. Removing them from the equation will seriously disrupt the eco-systems they are a part of, and dramatic changes will happen. I cannot tell you what, because no one knows - but they are an important source of food the animals higher up the food chain. Maybe we get overcrowded by flies and spiders. Maybe most birds disappear. Maybe bees die out because mosquitoes kept a parasite at bay, leading to significant change in vegetative matter. Most of our world is very adaptable, but it is also highly tuned, finely balanced, and complexly interconnected.
11235813213455 9y ago
solution: 1 child max per person, globally
AlexandrB 9y ago
As sad as this is, the reality is that nobody cares. Biologists have been beating the conservation drum (rightly so) for decades but the behaviour of the average consumer has hardly changed. Arguably, it's actually gotten worse with metrics like the use of plastic at an all-time high [1] (thanks, bottled water). Soon enough we will learn what the economic value of the free labor provided by insects and other animals as basic agricultural processes like pollination become a service that must be paid for (on many farms this is actually already the case). The good thing about capitalism is that it's great at optimizing a cost/value equilibrium for things that are easy to quantify. But the bad thing about capitalism is that things that are hard (or impossible) to quantify are, at best, an afterthought. Resulting in the all-too-familiar tragedy of the commons. [1] https://www.plasticsinsight.com/global-consumption-plastic-materials-region-1980-2015/ https://www.plasticsinsight.com/global-consumption-plastic-m...
- ciconia 9y ago
  > As sad as this is, the reality is that nobody cares. More precisely, too few care, and only a fraction of them are really doing something about it. I think in many ways the apparent environmental crisis we've been experiencing is a profound moral failure, on the part of individuals, governments and whole societies.
- zzalpha 9y ago
  But the bad thing about capitalism is that things that are hard (or impossible) to quantify are, at best, an afterthought. It's actually worse than that. Capitalism cannot on its own deal with negative externalities even when they are quantifiable. You solve that through government regulation. But when government is bought and sold by businesses who would prefer costs be externalized as much as possible, the outcomes are... less than ideal.
- colordrops 9y ago
  Someone with the knowledge really needs to add quantities to the destruction caused by specific actions. E.g. using this plastic causes this much pollution which kills/disrupts this many biological organisms which prevents you from getting these resources. Then it needs to be wrapped up in a holistic vision of what life will be like in 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 years if you continue this behavior . This visualization should also allow you to input your childrens ages and show a representation of them at the age of particular scenarios.
flyGuyOnTheSly 9y ago
Just some wishful thinking here... Is it possible that the local insect populations got wise to these malaise traps that the researchers were using in western germany? Apparently the way that a malaise trap works is that it waits for insects to fly into it's wall, hopes that they crawl up the wall, and then hopes that they crawl right into a bottle filled with ethanol. Now I do not know anything at all about insects and how they might learn or adapt to various situations. But I know that they can adapt just like anything else, and maybe some of them starting saying "no I will not crawl up that screen into the bottle of alcohol" after 27 years and got the word out to other local insects? Am I crazy for thinking that might be the case?
- hk__2 9y ago
  > Am I crazy for thinking that might be the case? I don’t know; but I wish they would be able to adapt so rapidly. Think how after thousands of years they still don’t understand they can’t fly through transparent glass.
  - maelito 9y ago
    Probably not the same thing as most don't die when they hit the window
  - projectramo 9y ago
    Transparent glass doesn't kill them so it doesn't exert any evolutionary pressure.
  - cialowicz 9y ago
    Flying into transparent glass under their own power isn't something that kills an insect, so there won't be any selection mechanism at work. One of the other things to consider is the windshield/windscreen phenomenon[0]: > If you talk to people, they have a gut feeling. They remember how insects used to smash on your windscreen... > I used to have to wash my car all the time. It was always covered with insects. I suppose there might be a selection mechanism at play there. Perhaps some insects have learned to avoid flying over comparably warmer swaths of pavement? I still think the news here is pretty frightening. [0] http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insects-gone http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insect...
b0rsuk 9y ago
I think nothing will change as long as economic growth is understood as economic Good. Current economy can't work if there's no economic growth. Banks are among the biggest culprits. If banks lend money at a 5% interest rate, their customers must grow their businesses by 5%. A new, sustainable economy is needed. I think about it each time I see the Race for the Galaxy card. I've seen a radical example of this among African tribes, in a documentary Africa serries by Basil Davidson. He argued the tribe (sorry I don't remember its name) can fully sustain itself by taking things from nature around it. All their wealth is external. They possess little, but whenever they have a need for something - food, medicine, water, paint, clothes, containers(...) they go to a forest, harvest a specific plant and get it. They have recipes for everything they need.
- l_camacho 9y ago
  That's circular economy at the purest level. More and more I think we need to degrow. It's not a question of starting the green economy. That should had happen years before now. We were informed by environmentalist about the limits of growth. Now we need to act fast on reducing unnecessary consumption and also unethical/unsustainable productivity.
  - 49para 9y ago
    'degrow' == collapse The monetary system is based on debt, debt requires growth to service the interest, growth, at some point, is unsustainable. Collapse occurs at the point of 0.0 growth, i.e. the top of the curve. The question is : does growth stop voluntarily or when one of the feedstocks of growth reach a limit ? I find it odd that the people most associated with 'green' thinking, climate change etc, are the ones that seem to want growth in other areas, i.e. immigration to offset natural western population decline. I read comments from leftward progressives that they want to take Canada's population to 100m from 35m, given Canadian's comsume the most energy per capita, that sounds insane.
  - b0rsuk 9y ago
    Very hard do to. Chinese population envy Americans their consumerist lifestyle. Various developing countries watch Hollywood movies and TV serials want some of that. Even if Americans led by example, that kind of economically wasteful lifestyle has become so associated with success it would take a long, long time to change culture.
baxtr 9y ago
They‘ll be back, once we’re gone: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/23/wildlife-returns-to-radioactive-wasteland-of-chernobyl/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/23/wildlife-returns-...
xoa 9y ago
I'm glad to see some of the recent research on threats to insect populations getting more attention, HN recently had a good discussion on this in "75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas" [1]. But in reading through that thread I saw a lot of discussion about pesticides but surprisingly nothing at all regarding nighttime light pollution, and in that context I think another Atlantic piece is of interest, "Night Lights Drive Pollinators Away from Plants" [2]. In particular I think that's an area where it seems like there is more direct action potential for technologists. Both individually and in terms of community ordinances we should push to better take advantage of advances in LEDs and sensors to try to reduce color temperature at light and try to better ensure that lighting exists only when and where humans actually directly need it at the time, rather then the current dumblight defaults of "always on, lots of spread, and always at the same temperature". This should be an area where at least some level of technological win-win is possible, because we generally only need lighting on when a human is not present. Permanent-on has just been that way by default because there was no better way to ensure it would be on if somebody came around. Fixed color temperatures too have been a matter of simple necessity given the technology available. So there should be a lot of room to reduce wasted light (and in turn energy) and simultaneously benefit pollinators via smarter lighting tech. From a personal perspective, this provided me the impetus to get my camera, door sensors, and other presence detectors all linked up with my lighting at long last so that my outdoor lighting is by default off at night except when directly needed. I'd support a national push to develop more directed, warmer, and smarter street lighting and the like as well. ---- 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 2: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/confirmed-night-lights-drive-pollinators-away-from-plants/535983/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/confirme...
mdekkers 9y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
sxates 9y ago
Years ago when I lived in suburban Texas with a typical suburban house with a back yard that had open space behind it I had a terrible insect problem. Exposed skin would get a mosquito bite-per-minute, the dogs were coming inside covered in fleas, etc. So I went to Home Depot and bought this yard spray that promised to kill mosquitos, fleas, ticks, etc. and I hosed down the back yard in a desperate attempt to reclaim it for our families use. What struck me as soon as I was done spraying the yard was how quiet it was. It was eerie. It then occurred to me that I hadn't just killed the pests, I had killed everything. These sorts of products are in every hardware store. How many other people just casually eliminate all insects in their yard, and perhaps do so frequently? What do those chemicals do when they wash away into the watershed? Same question for all the chemicals used in agriculture - it can't be good, right? In a way it boggles the mind that this is an acceptable product, which is socially acceptable to use. I certainly regret it, but I seem to be in the minority.
- eximius 9y ago
  Remember fireflies? They've all but disappeared in cities because of mosquito spraying.
  - TheMissingPiece 9y ago
    I just moved from California to Tennessee and only recently got to experience fireflies for the first time in my life. They're incredible :) I don't see them in the city, but that doesnt surprise me... there are tons once you leave downtown, though.
    - indescions_2017 9y ago
      we like to call them "lighting bugs" back here on the east coast ;)
      - TSiege 9y ago
        I'm from NY. We call them fire flies. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
okreallywtf 9y ago
It saddens and frustrates me to no end that this is the kind of work that the EPA should be doing for the long term good of our country and species and knowing that it is being systematically dismantled from the inside (as many of our federal agencies are). We've given the keys of the hen-house to the foxes and are sitting back to watch our manufacturing jobs roll in. Granted this problem was already occurring and economics almost always takes precedence over the environment overall, but the fact we're going backwards makes me furious. Scott Pruitt Is Carrying Out His E.P.A. Agenda in Secret, Critics Say: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa.html?_r=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/politics/scott-pruitt-... Trump signs order at the EPA to dismantle environmental protections: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-signs-order-at-the-epa-to-dismantle-environmental-protections/2017/03/28/3ec30240-13e2-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.4c2cf38cccfc https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump... Counseled by Industry, Not Staff, E.P.A. Chief Is Off to a Blazing Start: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/us/politics/trump-epa-chief-pruitt-regulations-climate-change.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/us/politics/trump-epa-chi...
vwcx 9y ago
I wonder what this comment section would like if this study was released during last year's Zika panic.
- okreallywtf 9y ago
  I would like to think this comment section would have a more informed opinion than average, I was seeing/reading about this during the panic and even then many people were speaking out against arial spraying [0]. It decimated the insect populations [1], people describing "total silence" like another commenter except it was over huge areas. [0] http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/harvard-zika-expert-naled-aerial-spraying-doesnt-work-could-worsen-problem-8785034 http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/harvard-zika-expert-naled-... [1] http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article101067802.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys...
adreamingsoul 9y ago
we really need to band all insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides.
phkahler 9y ago
I wonder if sunlight / cloud cover negatively affects insect population.
powerpixl 9y ago
All-Natural Homemade Bug Spray Recipe That Works! http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/06/15/all-natural-homemade-bug-spray-works-lemon-eucalyptus-oil-more-effective-than-deet-mosquito-repellent/ http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/06/15/all-natural-h...

292 points by ALee 9y ago

j_s 9y ago

I believe the primary source was discussed last week. (Discussion is still open but ain't nobody got time for that once it's off the front page!) 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 (Oct 2017, 428 comments)

titzer 9y ago
This article gives even more supporting evidence, citing declines in butterflies and honeybees from other sources.
- j_s 9y ago
  Pretty sure these were pulled as highlights from the "References" section, but I can't guarantee that beyond confirming they are listed there. The article does add some interpretive commentary quoting experts. The best TL;DR I could grab from the previous discussion: >MrBuddyCasino https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15503474 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15503474 Der Spiegel discusses issues in the methodology of the data collection. The intervals over the years weren't uniform, data was collected by volunteers/hobbyists and they did not measure the dry mass weight. There are differing opinions whether or not those issues have relevance. SZ gives some details on suspected causes. Neither climate change (warmer weather should yield more insects, not less) nor changes in plant diversity can explain the observed effects alone. Main suspects: - agricultural fertilizers, especially nitrogen - pesticides, especially neonicotinoides
_rpd 9y ago
> 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas The measurements took place in protected areas in Germany. Have there been similar studies for other locations? Edit: It appears that almost all the measurements took place at locations in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany's most populous state ... > S1 Fig. Map of study area. > Insect trap locations (yellow points) in Nordrhein-Westfalen (n = 57), Rheinland-Pfalz (n = 1) and Brandenburg (n = 5)
athenot 9y ago
Last week's article motivated me to plant Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa and Asclepias incarnata) in my garden next year, to help with the population of Monarch butterflies and bees. On the other hand, I'll still be deploying my organic mosquito control based on plant oils injected into a mister system. I really don't think mosquitoes fulfill any role in the ecosystem that can't be filled in by other species; but the difficulty is in avoiding messing with any other insects.
- zzalpha 9y ago
  I really don't think mosquitoes fulfill any role in the ecosystem that can't be filled in by other species This is literally the exact kind of hubris that got us in this mess in the first place...
- always_good 9y ago
  Mosquitos pollenate plants. And they're an important food item for migrating bugs and birds. Less than 40% of them feed on blood, nor is it their only diet among those that do. It's interesting how matter of factly you spread such a casual opinion about what our ecosystem does and doesn't need.
- hvidgaard 9y ago
  > I really don't think mosquitoes fulfill any role in the ecosystem that can't be filled in by other species They are so ubiquitous and numerous that they are without a doubt an important part of the food chain. Removing them from the equation will seriously disrupt the eco-systems they are a part of, and dramatic changes will happen. I cannot tell you what, because no one knows - but they are an important source of food the animals higher up the food chain. Maybe we get overcrowded by flies and spiders. Maybe most birds disappear. Maybe bees die out because mosquitoes kept a parasite at bay, leading to significant change in vegetative matter. Most of our world is very adaptable, but it is also highly tuned, finely balanced, and complexly interconnected.

11235813213455 9y ago

solution: 1 child max per person, globally

AlexandrB 9y ago

As sad as this is, the reality is that nobody cares. Biologists have been beating the conservation drum (rightly so) for decades but the behaviour of the average consumer has hardly changed. Arguably, it's actually gotten worse with metrics like the use of plastic at an all-time high [1] (thanks, bottled water). Soon enough we will learn what the economic value of the free labor provided by insects and other animals as basic agricultural processes like pollination become a service that must be paid for (on many farms this is actually already the case). The good thing about capitalism is that it's great at optimizing a cost/value equilibrium for things that are easy to quantify. But the bad thing about capitalism is that things that are hard (or impossible) to quantify are, at best, an afterthought. Resulting in the all-too-familiar tragedy of the commons. [1] https://www.plasticsinsight.com/global-consumption-plastic-materials-region-1980-2015/ https://www.plasticsinsight.com/global-consumption-plastic-m...

ciconia 9y ago
> As sad as this is, the reality is that nobody cares. More precisely, too few care, and only a fraction of them are really doing something about it. I think in many ways the apparent environmental crisis we've been experiencing is a profound moral failure, on the part of individuals, governments and whole societies.
zzalpha 9y ago
But the bad thing about capitalism is that things that are hard (or impossible) to quantify are, at best, an afterthought. It's actually worse than that. Capitalism cannot on its own deal with negative externalities even when they are quantifiable. You solve that through government regulation. But when government is bought and sold by businesses who would prefer costs be externalized as much as possible, the outcomes are... less than ideal.
colordrops 9y ago
Someone with the knowledge really needs to add quantities to the destruction caused by specific actions. E.g. using this plastic causes this much pollution which kills/disrupts this many biological organisms which prevents you from getting these resources. Then it needs to be wrapped up in a holistic vision of what life will be like in 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 years if you continue this behavior . This visualization should also allow you to input your childrens ages and show a representation of them at the age of particular scenarios.

flyGuyOnTheSly 9y ago

Just some wishful thinking here... Is it possible that the local insect populations got wise to these malaise traps that the researchers were using in western germany? Apparently the way that a malaise trap works is that it waits for insects to fly into it's wall, hopes that they crawl up the wall, and then hopes that they crawl right into a bottle filled with ethanol. Now I do not know anything at all about insects and how they might learn or adapt to various situations. But I know that they can adapt just like anything else, and maybe some of them starting saying "no I will not crawl up that screen into the bottle of alcohol" after 27 years and got the word out to other local insects? Am I crazy for thinking that might be the case?

hk__2 9y ago
> Am I crazy for thinking that might be the case? I don’t know; but I wish they would be able to adapt so rapidly. Think how after thousands of years they still don’t understand they can’t fly through transparent glass.
- maelito 9y ago
  Probably not the same thing as most don't die when they hit the window
- projectramo 9y ago
  Transparent glass doesn't kill them so it doesn't exert any evolutionary pressure.
- cialowicz 9y ago
  Flying into transparent glass under their own power isn't something that kills an insect, so there won't be any selection mechanism at work. One of the other things to consider is the windshield/windscreen phenomenon[0]: > If you talk to people, they have a gut feeling. They remember how insects used to smash on your windscreen... > I used to have to wash my car all the time. It was always covered with insects. I suppose there might be a selection mechanism at play there. Perhaps some insects have learned to avoid flying over comparably warmer swaths of pavement? I still think the news here is pretty frightening. [0] http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insects-gone http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insect...

b0rsuk 9y ago

I think nothing will change as long as economic growth is understood as economic Good. Current economy can't work if there's no economic growth. Banks are among the biggest culprits. If banks lend money at a 5% interest rate, their customers must grow their businesses by 5%. A new, sustainable economy is needed. I think about it each time I see the Race for the Galaxy card. I've seen a radical example of this among African tribes, in a documentary Africa serries by Basil Davidson. He argued the tribe (sorry I don't remember its name) can fully sustain itself by taking things from nature around it. All their wealth is external. They possess little, but whenever they have a need for something - food, medicine, water, paint, clothes, containers(...) they go to a forest, harvest a specific plant and get it. They have recipes for everything they need.

l_camacho 9y ago
That's circular economy at the purest level. More and more I think we need to degrow. It's not a question of starting the green economy. That should had happen years before now. We were informed by environmentalist about the limits of growth. Now we need to act fast on reducing unnecessary consumption and also unethical/unsustainable productivity.
- 49para 9y ago
  'degrow' == collapse The monetary system is based on debt, debt requires growth to service the interest, growth, at some point, is unsustainable. Collapse occurs at the point of 0.0 growth, i.e. the top of the curve. The question is : does growth stop voluntarily or when one of the feedstocks of growth reach a limit ? I find it odd that the people most associated with 'green' thinking, climate change etc, are the ones that seem to want growth in other areas, i.e. immigration to offset natural western population decline. I read comments from leftward progressives that they want to take Canada's population to 100m from 35m, given Canadian's comsume the most energy per capita, that sounds insane.
- b0rsuk 9y ago
  Very hard do to. Chinese population envy Americans their consumerist lifestyle. Various developing countries watch Hollywood movies and TV serials want some of that. Even if Americans led by example, that kind of economically wasteful lifestyle has become so associated with success it would take a long, long time to change culture.

baxtr 9y ago

They‘ll be back, once we’re gone: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/23/wildlife-returns-to-radioactive-wasteland-of-chernobyl/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/23/wildlife-returns-...

xoa 9y ago

I'm glad to see some of the recent research on threats to insect populations getting more attention, HN recently had a good discussion on this in "75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas" [1]. But in reading through that thread I saw a lot of discussion about pesticides but surprisingly nothing at all regarding nighttime light pollution, and in that context I think another Atlantic piece is of interest, "Night Lights Drive Pollinators Away from Plants" [2]. In particular I think that's an area where it seems like there is more direct action potential for technologists. Both individually and in terms of community ordinances we should push to better take advantage of advances in LEDs and sensors to try to reduce color temperature at light and try to better ensure that lighting exists only when and where humans actually directly need it at the time, rather then the current dumblight defaults of "always on, lots of spread, and always at the same temperature". This should be an area where at least some level of technological win-win is possible, because we generally only need lighting on when a human is not present. Permanent-on has just been that way by default because there was no better way to ensure it would be on if somebody came around. Fixed color temperatures too have been a matter of simple necessity given the technology available. So there should be a lot of room to reduce wasted light (and in turn energy) and simultaneously benefit pollinators via smarter lighting tech. From a personal perspective, this provided me the impetus to get my camera, door sensors, and other presence detectors all linked up with my lighting at long last so that my outdoor lighting is by default off at night except when directly needed. I'd support a national push to develop more directed, warmer, and smarter street lighting and the like as well. ---- 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502074 2: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/confirmed-night-lights-drive-pollinators-away-from-plants/535983/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/confirme...

mdekkers 9y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c

sxates 9y ago

Years ago when I lived in suburban Texas with a typical suburban house with a back yard that had open space behind it I had a terrible insect problem. Exposed skin would get a mosquito bite-per-minute, the dogs were coming inside covered in fleas, etc. So I went to Home Depot and bought this yard spray that promised to kill mosquitos, fleas, ticks, etc. and I hosed down the back yard in a desperate attempt to reclaim it for our families use. What struck me as soon as I was done spraying the yard was how quiet it was. It was eerie. It then occurred to me that I hadn't just killed the pests, I had killed everything. These sorts of products are in every hardware store. How many other people just casually eliminate all insects in their yard, and perhaps do so frequently? What do those chemicals do when they wash away into the watershed? Same question for all the chemicals used in agriculture - it can't be good, right? In a way it boggles the mind that this is an acceptable product, which is socially acceptable to use. I certainly regret it, but I seem to be in the minority.

eximius 9y ago
Remember fireflies? They've all but disappeared in cities because of mosquito spraying.
- TheMissingPiece 9y ago
  I just moved from California to Tennessee and only recently got to experience fireflies for the first time in my life. They're incredible :) I don't see them in the city, but that doesnt surprise me... there are tons once you leave downtown, though.
  - indescions_2017 9y ago
    we like to call them "lighting bugs" back here on the east coast ;)
    - TSiege 9y ago
      I'm from NY. We call them fire flies. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

okreallywtf 9y ago

It saddens and frustrates me to no end that this is the kind of work that the EPA should be doing for the long term good of our country and species and knowing that it is being systematically dismantled from the inside (as many of our federal agencies are). We've given the keys of the hen-house to the foxes and are sitting back to watch our manufacturing jobs roll in. Granted this problem was already occurring and economics almost always takes precedence over the environment overall, but the fact we're going backwards makes me furious. Scott Pruitt Is Carrying Out His E.P.A. Agenda in Secret, Critics Say: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa.html?_r=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/politics/scott-pruitt-... Trump signs order at the EPA to dismantle environmental protections: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-signs-order-at-the-epa-to-dismantle-environmental-protections/2017/03/28/3ec30240-13e2-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.4c2cf38cccfc https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump... Counseled by Industry, Not Staff, E.P.A. Chief Is Off to a Blazing Start: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/us/politics/trump-epa-chief-pruitt-regulations-climate-change.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/us/politics/trump-epa-chi...

vwcx 9y ago

I wonder what this comment section would like if this study was released during last year's Zika panic.

okreallywtf 9y ago
I would like to think this comment section would have a more informed opinion than average, I was seeing/reading about this during the panic and even then many people were speaking out against arial spraying [0]. It decimated the insect populations [1], people describing "total silence" like another commenter except it was over huge areas. [0] http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/harvard-zika-expert-naled-aerial-spraying-doesnt-work-could-worsen-problem-8785034 http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/harvard-zika-expert-naled-... [1] http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article101067802.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys...

adreamingsoul 9y ago

we really need to band all insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides.

phkahler 9y ago

I wonder if sunlight / cloud cover negatively affects insect population.

powerpixl 9y ago

All-Natural Homemade Bug Spray Recipe That Works! http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/06/15/all-natural-homemade-bug-spray-works-lemon-eucalyptus-oil-more-effective-than-deet-mosquito-repellent/ http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/06/15/all-natural-h...