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Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#241

Post by acconrad »

carapace wrote: post #229

Slightly tangential, but I want to point out that there's a way forward without pesticides and without economic disaster: We can switch to a "horticultural" mode of civilization. The idea is that we use applied ecology to create curated ecosystems that have a high proportion of plants that are agriculturally productive. (Not to be mysterious, I'm talking about Permaculture et. al. but that term seems to upset a few p…

Regenerative agriculture is another means with which to restore the land without pesticides or herbicides, with the additional benefit of sequestering nitrogen.

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#242

Post by MycroftJones »

jacquesm wrote: post #7
jlangenauer wrote: post #2

If I ever get rich enough to do so, I'm going to buy some land somewhere - perhaps old farming land that's no longer profitable, and just let it return to nature. Let the trees and bushes grow, let the insects, birds and whatever else breed there. I'm beginning to think that's one of the best things one could do for the planet right now.

In Canada it's $1k/acre and sometimes even lower. But for your plan to have maximum effect you'd have to do some research what land would be best suited because of biodiversity and climate.

Where is this 1k/acre land in Canada? Is it in a place where you can do these following things? a) build a house b) buy it an acre at a time c) grow a reasonable crop d) be within reasonable distance to a city and the markets thereof

In Canada particularly, climate is an issue for growing crops. Wheat takes 100 days to mature. The growing season in the prairies is 110 days. If the climate drops 1 degree Celcius you lose 10 days off your growing season. If your growing season is delayed by cold or flooding, you don't get a crop that year. In the prairies it takes about 10 acres to sustain 1 cow year round. Throughout Canada there are all kinds of restrictions about how many houses and people you can have on your land. The concept of "starter house" and "starter farm" doesn't exist anymore. There is the nobility, and there are the serfs. We just don't call them that.

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#243

Post by novaRom »

scottlocklin wrote: post #204

Well, we're running a giant experiment on this: the EU recently banned them. In fact they've banned several of them and the worst uses of them since 2013. My bet: bees might do better, but the over all insectopocalypse is due to something else.

The biggest issue is that the ecological costs are not reflected in economic transactions in modern economy. We simply cannot estimate them properly, because ecological disaster is a long slowly moving process, not very visible at first, but very significant thereafter.

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#244

Post by avip »

acconrad wrote: post #241
carapace wrote: post #229

Slightly tangential, but I want to point out that there's a way forward without pesticides and without economic disaster: We can switch to a "horticultural" mode of civilization. The idea is that we use applied ecology to create curated ecosystems that have a high proportion of plants that are agriculturally productive. (Not to be mysterious, I'm talking about Permaculture et. al. but that term seems to upset a few p…

Regenerative agriculture is another means with which to restore the land without pesticides or herbicides, with the additional benefit of sequestering nitrogen.

>Regenerative agricultural practices include:

  no tillage
  diverse cover crops
  in-farm fertility (no external nutrients)
  no pesticides or synthetic fertilizers
  multiple crop rotations
https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/food/regenerative-agricul...

In other words, Regenerative agricultural is indistinguishable from Permaculture as a cultivation method.

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#245

Post by maelito »

jlangenauer wrote: post #2

If I ever get rich enough to do so, I'm going to buy some land somewhere - perhaps old farming land that's no longer profitable, and just let it return to nature. Let the trees and bushes grow, let the insects, birds and whatever else breed there. I'm beginning to think that's one of the best things one could do for the planet right now.

Same goal for me. In theory, no need to be rich to do this in France, non constructible areas are almost cheap... But the farmer corporations have a preemption right to buy all these lands.

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#246

Post by TaylorAlexander »

carapace wrote: post #229

Slightly tangential, but I want to point out that there's a way forward without pesticides and without economic disaster: We can switch to a "horticultural" mode of civilization. The idea is that we use applied ecology to create curated ecosystems that have a high proportion of plants that are agriculturally productive. (Not to be mysterious, I'm talking about Permaculture et. al. but that term seems to upset a few p…

I absolutely agree. Murray Bookchin did a lot of writing and activism about how to operate societies in an ecologically compatible way that also maximize freedom. See some of his writing on the subject here: http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/bookchin/libmu...

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#247

Post by lanstin »

egypturnash wrote: post #137
lonelappde wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all respect, that's a load of magical thinking and placebo effect.

I have lived in situations where there was a good farmer's market nearby where I could buy produce directly from small local farmers, and I have had the same thing happen to me. I began looking forwards to eating a salad, then stopped when I no longer had easy access to the good stuff. The various things that happen to produce destined for a shelf halfway across the country are really just not appetizing.

I will never forget the first green beans I ate from a farmers market picked the day before at the height of bean season. Wow, so sweet, so yummy. I grew up eating canned green beans. Ugh, what a travesty that is.

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#248

Post by avip »

ced wrote: post #230
gravelc wrote: post #22

I'm part of a group developing RNAi-based pesticides which are topically applied (so non-GM). They are extremely species specific; when designed properly they can avoid even close relatives of the target insect, and the by-product of the active ingredient is degraded RNA, which is harmless. The OECD had a meeting on it recently to help develop a regulatory framework - link here if interested ( https://www.oecd.org/ch…

Can you explain how it works? Why does it degrade when a human ingests it, but kills the insects it targets?

Lots of info here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.0191...

(does not directly answer your Q2)

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#249

Post by bahmboo »

jlangenauer wrote: post #2

If I ever get rich enough to do so, I'm going to buy some land somewhere - perhaps old farming land that's no longer profitable, and just let it return to nature. Let the trees and bushes grow, let the insects, birds and whatever else breed there. I'm beginning to think that's one of the best things one could do for the planet right now.

Good thoughts, but no need to wait, Nature Conservancy:

https://www.nature.org/en-us/

As others have pointed out it's not enough to let the land alone, it needs at least minimal stewardship.

Re: Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides: study

#250

Post by nitrogen »

9dev wrote: post #240
std_throwaway wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I sell this land to someone else if I need money? Is the use of that land for the new owner restricted or can it be repurposed for agriculture or other uses?

You haven't understood the purpose of projects like these at all, have you?

I think what they are saying is that the land isn't really in your name if you can't sell it later.
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