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Where have all the insects gone?

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Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#121

Post by toss1 »

deelowe wrote: post #107

It seems like all that's left around me is stinging/biting insects. Plenty of mosquitos, wasps, fireants, and carpenter bees but that's about it.

I'm fortunate to live with a wetland on the property, and find a lot of dragonflies and even bumblebees which have disappeared from several adjacent states and are now proposed for endangered status.

Yet, I now feel lucky to see even a few fireflies in a summer, when I remember loving to see fields of them blinking in the evening... wow I miss that.

(and we're in real trouble here)

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#122

Post by elif »

In my neighborhood, there were 2 cases of West Nile virus detected in humans in June/July.

Since then, the city have contracted a corporation called BugStars to drive down every street in my neighborhood (downtown, 10k population) and the four around it releasing poison directly into the air every Wednesday night.

There was no notice given to any of us, and only after investigating were we able to figure out why everyone's beehives died the same day, and we are left on our own to coordinate which nights we need to seal the windows or breath actual poison.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#123

Post by kgermino »

jonny_eh wrote: post #102
kgermino wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn’t have an Oxford comma in a two item “list”. It’s for a series of three or more items.

Perhaps an exception if one of those items has an "and" in the middle?

I’ve been thinking about the same since I saw your comment. I think a comma after Tobago: “Trinidad and Tobago, and in Suriname” would make the sentence easier to understand but it also might add meaning that isn’t there. Does the added comma imply that primary object (most of the work) was done on Trinidad and Tobago, while the work in Suriname is smaller or less important?

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#124

Post by Jensson »

papito wrote: post #79
ashtonkem wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That's too bad. "Corporations are people", my friend, but they can also pump unlimited amounts of money into politics, creating their own laws. Let's not just call out "the government". They are the government. And, no, it's not tinfoil stuff, we know what's going on.

Politicians taking bribes from companies for creating laws is an example of politicians using their power to enrich themselves. Such politicians will use their power to enrich themselves regardless of what system you use, making such people run the entire economy would guarantee a disaster.

What you need is a stronger separation of capital and state.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#125

Post by oofabz »

revolvingocelot wrote: post #24
missedthecue wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only the government had nationalised industry, these bugs would be alive?

The difference between a nationalised industry and a publically-offered industry is that the nationalised industry has a chance of properly dealing with externalities, treating workers properly, ensuring safe long-term functionality, and, y'know, prioritizing the service they're there to provide. This situation is covered by the first, though I bet the things that are killing the insects are hurting us, too.

>nationalised industry has a chance of properly dealing with externalities

Do you know the history of the Soviet whaling program? They killed more whales for industry than the West.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#126

Post by hsavit1 »

elif wrote: post #122

In my neighborhood, there were 2 cases of West Nile virus detected in humans in June/July. Since then, the city have contracted a corporation called BugStars to drive down every street in my neighborhood (downtown, 10k population) and the four around it releasing poison directly into the air every Wednesday night. There was no notice given to any of us, and only after investigating were we able to figure out why ever…

this is horrendous. where are you located?

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#127

Post by robocat »

thisiscorrect wrote: post #49
jerry1979 wrote: post #36

Anecdotally, while driving along Minnesota's segment of I94 in the '90s, one would have to stop and scrape the bugs off the front window and grill. Today, this is no longer a problem.

Could that be explained by improved aerodynamics of cars now compared to then? Has that been studied?

Research says no: “The research included vintage cars up to 70 years old to see if their less aerodynamic shape meant they killed more bugs, but it found that modern cars actually hit slightly more insects.” From https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/car-spla... (Second hand comment from a journalist; actual research results may vary).

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#128

Post by hinkley »

subsubzero wrote: post #68

Maybe the author doesn't see insects as they are in a heavily populated city with exterminators everywhere. Down in Southern California I have seen more bees this past year than I have ever seen. A few things I do feel like I see alot less than I used to see is dragonflies and praying mantis. I remember as a kid I used to see so many of both, now I may see one or two a month(dragonflies), and praying mantis once or t…

I have a crap ton of bees visit my flowers and happened to get chatted up one day while outside garden gin by someone who keeps bees. If memory serves he’s about 10 blocks away, so I never would have solved that on my own just by walking around looking for hives.

Could be you have new neighbors.

Half of my bees are bumbles (at least one nest in my yard), maybe the odd mason, and hoverflies. But I’m on an edge of a garden district, less than a mile from a river, so I see lots of things. I’m pretty sure I’m part of a corridor between the two.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#129

Post by pengaru »

Last year I had a jarring experience driving through some of the agricultural land near the Salton Sea en route to Bombay Beach coming down from JTNP, taking back roads.

The general region is desert, water and food is scarce, but through this agricultural zone there's this dense pocket of food and water on the surface.

I was in a Miata with the top down, and the amount of chemicals they were using to keep the pests/insects away from this lush green oasis in a land of nothing was noxious. I hadn't exited my car, just drove through these fields on the farm roads, and it left me feeling sick with a headache and nausea well into the next day.

Of course I didn't encounter a single insect, spotless windshield.

Re: Where have all the insects gone?

#130

Post by revolvingocelot »

LanceH wrote: post #87
revolvingocelot wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of downvoting, as you're about to find out. For some reason, HN really really hates the idea that there's enormous monetary incentive to ignore existential problems caused by modern capitalism. Probably because, as Jeff Hammerbacher said, "the best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks."

I think HN really hates the histrionics that started this thread, "They heroically died for our capitalist masters". When people talk about HN becoming Reddit, this is one of the things they are talking about.

> I think HN really hates the histrionics that started this thread, "They heroically died for our capitalist masters". When people talk about HN becoming Reddit, this is one of the things they are talking about.

Oh absolutely, it's very clear HN hates that. Redditification is an ever-present threat, as I learned when I turned on showdead and finally saw, in almost every comment section, the root-level graveyards of "Very cool!" etc.

But that's an entirely different memeplex. HN hates that, but it also hates the idea that there's enormous monetary incentive to ignore existential problems caused by modern capitalism. One of the ways that displeasure might be shown is whataboutism regarding genuine if unhelpful "histrionics".

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