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This is one of those topics where people should really learn from human history rather than jump to conclusions because they sound good at first thought: The F

by jb775 7y ago

This is one of those topics where people should really learn from human history rather than jump to conclusions because they sound good at first thought: The Four Pests Campaign, was one of the first actions taken in the Great Leap Forward in China from 1958 to 1962. The four pests to be eliminated were rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows....[The resulting] ecological imbalance is credited with exacerbating the Great Chinese Famine, in which 15–45 million people died of starvation.[1] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign

vosper 7y ago
The full quote (and the rest of the article), when including the parts you omitted, implies that it was the campaign against sparrows, not mosquitos, that was the main problem: > The four pests to be eliminated were rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. The extermination of sparrows is also known as Smash Sparrows Campaign (Chinese: 打麻雀运动; pinyin: Dǎ Máquè Yùndòng) or Eliminate Sparrows Campaign (Chinese: 消灭麻雀运动; pinyin: Xiāomiè Máquè Yùndòng), which resulted in severe ecological imbalance, being one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine. In 1960, Mao Zedong ended the campaign against sparrows and redirected the fourth focus to bed bugs. There's no suggestion in the article you referenced that attempting to eliminate mosquitos had anything to do with the famine.
- carlmr 7y ago
  >There's no suggestion in the article you referenced that attempting to eliminate mosquitos had anything to do with the famine. Not directly, but assuming that what humans regard as pests don't have a function in the ecosystem, so I'd say his point is valid. Mess with the ecosystem in an extreme way and you might suffer dire consequences.
  - jb775 7y ago
    > Mess with the ecosystem in an extreme way and you might suffer dire consequences. This was exactly my main point. Apparently the elimination of sparrows also led to a dramatic increase in mosquitos (since sparrows eat mosquitoes), so it had a domino effect of negative impacts. They didn't have the technology to obliterate mosquitoes at the time, and that's essentially what we're talking about here...so I'm saying there will likely be unforeseen consequences if people mess with this. (coming from a guy who hates mosquitoes - i actually bought mosquito pants last year bc they are so bad in the summer when I'm doing yard work)
SubiculumCode 7y ago
Most mosquito species do not bite. Killing the ones that do would not have a large impact on the overall ecosystem, IMO.

by jb775 7y ago

vosper 7y ago

The full quote (and the rest of the article), when including the parts you omitted, implies that it was the campaign against sparrows, not mosquitos, that was the main problem: > The four pests to be eliminated were rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. The extermination of sparrows is also known as Smash Sparrows Campaign (Chinese: 打麻雀运动; pinyin: Dǎ Máquè Yùndòng) or Eliminate Sparrows Campaign (Chinese: 消灭麻雀运动; pinyin: Xiāomiè Máquè Yùndòng), which resulted in severe ecological imbalance, being one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine. In 1960, Mao Zedong ended the campaign against sparrows and redirected the fourth focus to bed bugs. There's no suggestion in the article you referenced that attempting to eliminate mosquitos had anything to do with the famine.

carlmr 7y ago
>There's no suggestion in the article you referenced that attempting to eliminate mosquitos had anything to do with the famine. Not directly, but assuming that what humans regard as pests don't have a function in the ecosystem, so I'd say his point is valid. Mess with the ecosystem in an extreme way and you might suffer dire consequences.
- jb775 7y ago
  > Mess with the ecosystem in an extreme way and you might suffer dire consequences. This was exactly my main point. Apparently the elimination of sparrows also led to a dramatic increase in mosquitos (since sparrows eat mosquitoes), so it had a domino effect of negative impacts. They didn't have the technology to obliterate mosquitoes at the time, and that's essentially what we're talking about here...so I'm saying there will likely be unforeseen consequences if people mess with this. (coming from a guy who hates mosquitoes - i actually bought mosquito pants last year bc they are so bad in the summer when I'm doing yard work)

SubiculumCode 7y ago

Most mosquito species do not bite. Killing the ones that do would not have a large impact on the overall ecosystem, IMO.