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Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#131

Post by _0w8t »

chickenimprint wrote: post #91
newsclues wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a push to move to smaller regenerative farms occurring?

How would that work? We don't have enough land as it is. And we can't pay for the additional labor small farms need, or food inflation will explode. Making agriculture unproductive will just push the demand outwards like a beaker of toxic reactants boiling over. We can't impose more trade restrictions on foreign agricultural goods either, for fear of a trade war. This hopeless romanticism of small organic mom-and-pop…

The current agricultural land in US alone can easily feed by various estimates at least 2 billions people. The trouble is that most of it is used to grow corn etc. to feed animals in the industrial meat production.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#132

Post by criddell »

Roark66 wrote: post #31
np- wrote: post #6

Totally anecdotally: I have to scrub a thick layer of bugs off my motorcycle helmet after every single ride but almost never off the windshield of my car. Though this could also be a function of where I’m going (typically rural back roads on the bike and highway/interstate in the car), but even then I’m still not sure, since there is a decent amount of overlap in local routes

There is nothing that gets one to zip up their motorcycle jacket quicker than getting hit with a large bug in the chest while doing 100kmh(60mph).

When I got my first motorcycle, the thing that surprised me the most was how much rain hurts on bare skin at 60 mph.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#133

Post by bamboozled »

Beltalowda wrote: post #99
dutchbrit wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also sad to see what people are doing to their gardens over here. Fake grass, no plants/just bricks. Not to mention the municipalities mowing nice patches of grass/plants/flowers where insects thrive.

One thing I've noticed after moving back to the Netherlands is how absolutely obsessed people are with keeping things "tidy". In a way, it's nice I guess, at least sometimes, but it comes with some serious costs too. This is not unique to the Netherlands, but we're probably the best (or worst?) at it, except maybe Singapore.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/24/let-fall...

Article from today, “let fallen leaves lie”

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#134

Post by cad1 »

alphabetting wrote: post #107
klabb3 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They account for this factor, and several others, in the study. There's an world wide decimation of insect populations, and it has received minor coverage relative to its likely significance to ecosystems.

what significant effects could there be on ecosystems by a decline in bugs? (I'm sure there are some, just curious)

Think of a food chain, bugs are near the bottom meaning they are a food source for many other creatures like birds, reptiles, small mammals, fish. Fewer bugs means less food for mice, that means fewer mice, leads to less food for snakes, leads to fewer snakes, leads to less food for birds of prey, leads to fewer birds of prey. There are many chains like this where bugs are a vital source of food. If there were zero bugs then these chains would collapse. Also, bugs are needed to pollenate many fruit bearing plants.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#135

Post by stinos »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #129
stinos wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the municipalities mowing nice patches of grass/plants/flowers where insects thrive. That lacks an important nuance: in most circumstances (regarding soil type/nitrogen deposition), not mowing at all would lead to those patches being overgrown by fast growers leading to less plant diversity. Can happen in as little as a year or 2. So the mowing itself is not the problem, it's the amount, how and when.

Mowing itself is the problem. Fast growers are just the first step in a recovery process that takes place when a previously stunted ecosystem is allowed to heal. Other types of plants follow in subsequent years, leading to a much more healthy ecosystem than when you mow it all down to hell.

Mowing itself is the problem

You really cannot talk about this in statements like they apply everywhere. Here's an example: around where I live, the number 1 activity by nature preservation groups when it comes to restoring grasslands of all kinds, is mowing. For a couple of reasons, but the main one being that nitrogen deposition fertilizes the soil too much, so it gets countered by removing biomass via mowing. Not doing that results is fast growers. Not because the'yre indicating a recovery process, just because they outgrow what was there originally. Which is the opposite of recovery.

leading to a much more healthy ecosystem than when you mow it all down to hell.

When I say "it's the amount, how and when" that implicates 'not mowing it all down to hell' is not the right way :)

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#136

Post by SuoDuanDao »

chickenimprint wrote: post #91
newsclues wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a push to move to smaller regenerative farms occurring?

How would that work? We don't have enough land as it is. And we can't pay for the additional labor small farms need, or food inflation will explode. Making agriculture unproductive will just push the demand outwards like a beaker of toxic reactants boiling over. We can't impose more trade restrictions on foreign agricultural goods either, for fear of a trade war. This hopeless romanticism of small organic mom-and-pop…

>we don't have enough land as it is

Small farms are more productive per acre [1] even before considering the increased fossil footprint of 'efficient' farms.

>we can't pay for the additional labor small farms need, or food inflation will explode.

Additional unskilled jobs might well be worth the tradeoff, particularly for the most vulnerable members of society.

>This hopeless romanticism of small organic mom-and-pop farming is misguided.

Russia's Dacha model produces something like 60% of the country's food through hobby 'farms' that regular people mostly go to on the weekends. It's not a hard model to replicate, I'm planting a food shrubland in my suburban home. It won't produce a large part of my food budget but it'll certainly be resource-positive as opposed to a lawn. My labour inputs I'd spend at a gym otherwise. As work-from-home becomes more normalized, the average garden size will probably increase. The problem isn't economic but cultural.

>huge, highly efficient, automated, but also highly regulated farms. That, and veganism.

There seems to be a correlation between belief in factory farming and veganism. Those stances align on pathos but diverge on logos and ethos.

[1]1https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03043...

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#138

Post by theandrewbailey »

I was thinking about this lack of bugs phenomenon when driving to my mom's house a few times over the past 3 or so months. It hasn't been the case for me this year. My car is covered with dead bugs, more than there used to be ~10 years ago. While I was there, I walked around at night (in a small midwestern town), and was constantly assaulted by bugs. Is pesticide use down with fertilizer use?

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#139

Post by eden_hazard »

fallingfrog wrote: post #125

Does anyone else remember the puddles in the road being full of worms after a good rainfall? I hardly see any of those anymore either.

I remember that. I used to walk to school and would jump be looking down the entire time to avoid stepping on worms. Now I hardly see them.

Re: Why are there so few dead bugs on windshields these days?

#140

Post by Beltalowda »

bamboozled wrote: post #133
Beltalowda wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I've noticed after moving back to the Netherlands is how absolutely obsessed people are with keeping things "tidy". In a way, it's nice I guess, at least sometimes, but it comes with some serious costs too. This is not unique to the Netherlands, but we're probably the best (or worst?) at it, except maybe Singapore.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/24/let-fall... Article from today, “let fallen leaves lie”

It just so happens I live in Eindoven, so I guess some more explaining is needed. They're working with the leafeblower now. I hate those contraptions so much.
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