15 ms·

Global warming is going to be disruptive on the scale of COVID (probably worse), and it's going to happen during our lifetimes.

• sdoering 6y ago
  Without insects for pollination, it will be difficult to feed the current, let alone the growing, world population. At least at a reasonable price. Artificial pollination works. Just not at the price that nature "demands". And of course, climate change will play a massive role. But so will the sixth extinction. Given the fact that we have studies showing -75% of insects in some regions (of Germany) [1], I feel that the system is already way out of bounds. [1]: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
  • saddlerustle 6y ago
    There's plenty of high calorie crops that don't need pollination.
  • zikzak 6y ago
    When I was a kid (say early 80s) we would go to a camp about 60 minutes drive from our house in the city. In the summer, the round trip would leave a crust of dead inspects on the grill we'd have to scrub off when we washed the car. These days, if I see a bug on the grill it's unusual.
    • amluto 6y ago
      I think that some of this effect is aerodynamics. Insects are pretty small — to get one to splatter on your windshield, the surrounding air needs to be under rather high acceleration so that the insect hits the windshield instead of following the air’s streamlines around your car. This condition isn’t great for aerodynamic drag. Newer cars try harder to be efficient, which reduces their tendency to splatter insects in their paths.