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The biggest cause of these declining populations seems, to me, to be intensive agriculture which leads to both loss of habitat and various toxic chemicals (pest
by dan-robertson 5y ago
The biggest cause of these declining populations seems, to me, to be intensive agriculture which leads to both loss of habitat and various toxic chemicals (pesticides but also fertilisers and huge quantities of slurry). Another cause may be pollution but it seems to me that we’ve had pollution for longer. In the U.K. this intensive agriculture was started in the war as an effort to produce more food locally. It meant less land was left fallow and land which had been too poor quality to be viable was farmed (with low yields and lots of artificial inputs.) It also means that any agricultural runoff is worse for the environment it runs into (even fertilisers may cause algal blooms in rivers which can then remove the oxygen from the water.) Because farms have to stay competitive, there isn’t much choice but to continue these intensive practices. To some extent, switching to certified organic practices allows farms to stop such practices.
It’s not so obvious what the solution is. There are a lot of people to feed and reducing the productivity of the land in a rich country puts pressure on land in other countries. One suggested solution is people changing to more land-efficient diets with less meat, but I don’t really see this happening much.
- pfdietz 5y agoHow do fertilizers kill insects?
- dan-robertson 5y agoWell insecticides and habitat loss kill insects. Intensive farming involves insecticides and habitat loss. And fertilisers in runoff may damage ecosystems causing further loss of habitat.
- darth_avocado 5y agoFertilizers are chemicals. Just because it helps plants grow doesn’t mean it’s not toxic to other living beings, including humans. Imagine you being an insect just chilling and suddenly you’re covered in urea. You’ll die instantly.
- hanoz 5y agoIsn't suddenly being covered in urea a long established hazard of the trade for many insects?
- dylan604 5y agoI'm guessing bees and other insects have been plying their trade for much longer than humans have been functioning.
- nightski 5y agoWater is a chemical. Just because it helps humans grow doesn't mean it can't be toxic to other living beings, including humans.
- pabs3 5y agoThat appears to be true for humans, if you don't take enough electrolytes at the same time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
- ostenning 5y agoJeez, what a constructive comment. I wish everybody in the world spoke like you do, what a beautiful world it would be
- mutatio 5y agoUrea based fertilizers could be harmful to insect life (e.g. it's the active ingredient in "SB Plant Invigorator"). It's also worth noting that the fertilization for mono-crops is detrimental to diverse plant ecologies - native orchid species in the UK have been decimated due to fertilizer run off from agriculture - lots of other species native to low nutrient chalk downland are also effected. The knock on is dramatic decreases in insect populations and diversity, butterflies have been hit especially hard.
- scns 5y agoThis. Since use of pesticides is limited by law, farmers started using several different ones at the same time.