Pesticides... messing up everything from butterflies to human colon cells at the moment.
But we have to poison ourselves and future generations! What if we were forced to notice some insects and arachnids? The alternative is unthinkable.
Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
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Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#72One thing you notice if you spend much time outdoors in the US is how many invasive species there are and how they've taken over so much space. These species are often dead spaces for native insects (which is one reason they are so invasive, not being held back as native plants are). Not only is this bad for butterflies, but also for other kinds of insects, and for species like birds that prey on the insects.
I've long thought we need to be more aggressive at bringing in biological controls of these invasives. There's a tendency to be conservative about this, to not make mistakes, to study not act, but I think increasing risks have to be taken there because the existing situation is also a huge risk.
At the same time, I enjoy planting native plants in my garden. One of my favorite discoveries there was Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), a low plant with pale blue-green leaves. When I first planted it, it was absolutely covered with caterpillars of the American (Painted) Lady butterfly. They ate down to bare stalks that then died. I thought it was done but it came back strongly and seeded enough to spread the next year. I think it's evolved to survive this sort of brutal spring pruning. I've since seen it in the wild, which was a treat.
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#73It is my hope that humans can ditch their love affair with pesticides. This is just one example of the unintended impact of pesticides. I have also found dying birds in my yard a few days after the neighbor sprayed their house perimeter for ants. No toxicology report but there was no sign of any physical damage.
A few countries in the EU have been encouraging people to fix their gardens. Remove some tiles, use native/local seeds for weeds and wild flowers and let nature do its things. That seems to work. Local insect counts are going up where that happens. Even simple things like mowing strips of grass next to the roads less often seems to help. And it's actually cheaper to not mow that so often. So, win win. They'll clear it maybe a few times per year as needed.
There have been some anecdotal reports of people having to clean their car windscreens a bit more often. That's a good thing. It means more bugs are flying around. Insect counts go up, counts of anything that eats those goes up as well.
Reducing the use of pesticides is a good idea as well. If only because modern farming still depends on pesticides and pollinator populations collapsing seems to be correlated with the use of pesticides. No pollinators, no fruit/vegetables. It's in their own interest to do something about populations collapsing. Allocating some of their land for pollinator friendly vegetation would also be smart.
A lot of over the counter toxins should be banned and in EU the use and sale of those is already restricted. Even rat poison is banned in some places now. Unfortunately, farmers seem to have successfully lobbied for being able to continue to use some pesticides. But it seems that awareness of the issue is growing; including of the health effects of living close to a farm that uses pesticides. It's likely that more restrictions will come eventually.
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#74All wildlife populations are in a severe decline [1][2]. More should be done about this, but I guess as a species we will have to learn the hard way. A small way to help is to replace some or all of your lawn with native species. A lawn should be a throw rug, not wall to wall carpet that is functionally a desert. If you won't get fined for doing so. [1] https://www.worldwildlife.org/news/press-releases/catastroph...…
There's also been a 30% decline in US birds in the last ~50 years. I think people underestimate how bad it is and it's not a good sign that research funding into wildlife has been cut a lot in the US recently.
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#75Mass agriculture and pesticides.
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#76Gen X and Millenials don't share Boomers' obsession with green lawns, so it's a race against time, whether Boomers or lightning bugs will go extinct first
I thought lightning bugs were mostly from light pollution and deforesting? I live in the woods not near a major city, and every summer there's thousands of them still, thankfully.
I don't think there's good data on exactly why but the experts view habitat loss, artificial lights at night, and pesticide use as the top three concerns (the North Americans surveyed put pesticides above light pollution but globally it was the opposite).
This is the survey of experts but is probably behind a paywall. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/2/157/5715071
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#77I'll never forget my first week working housing demolition in the Japanese countryside a few years ago. We were outside tearing down an old house, when I saw what I thought were bats. In broad daylight. But they were moving slowly... and I could see their wings beating. Holy crap, those are butterflies. Huge, stunningly beautiful, butterflies. And not just one or two, but many of them. When I was able to get a bit cl…
This was common in America once. Around the 1900's, in "wild" places like Texas, you'll see references to clouds of butterflies, in memoirs and such.
>references to clouds of butterflies, in memoirs and such.
I grew up in Texas and definitely remember smaller clusterings – but nothing like my experience at the butterfly exhibit on the top of Chattanooga's Aquarium (tens of thousands in only a few thousand squarefeet).
The definition of mesmerizing, all that flutteringby.
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#78I live in Austin, we used to have huge butterfly migrations long ago, they were amazing to see, big swarms of Queen butterflies as well as Monarchs and other species. Last year's was heartbreaking to see, handfuls where there once were swarms, though I think that was driven by the drought. I have a pollinator garden and have been tracking butterflies in iNaturalist for a decade, last few years the numbers have been s…
I remember these fluorishes from my ATX childhood. Now, a few states away, I still won't cut down milkweed (their feedsource).
Already, I'm beginning to worry about this year's hummingbird migration (my feeders, typically guarded by now, have been rotting for weeks). Even from a decade ago, local firefly populations seem diminished #Appalachia
But $tock$ are up. Rejoice.
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#79Mass agriculture and pesticides.
There was an article four days ago about 12 million hectares to grow corn for fuel and that energy from solar is 30x more efficient. Maybe they could make a few million of that nature reserve and put solar on other parts? (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47868063)
Re: Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pesticides form the backbone of crop protection. Without them, we're looking at at least a 40% reduction in global yield, and much greater uncertainty in food supply chains (the oil shocks show how bad that can be). Pesticides per se are not the problem; synthetic broad-spectrum pesticides with many unintended effects are. They're often toxic to people and ecosystems, and resistance among pests and pathogens is incre…
When you say it's part of our diet, does that mean it's safe to consume?
That's the problem. It appears companies are allowed to use consumers as guinea pigs for substances with unknown or possibly bad outcomes. All this "stuff" should be on warning labels.
If these substances slowly cause cancer (making it harder to trace) or other health problems, like birth defects or fertility problems, it can take a generation to figure out. The money has long been took and the getaway car long gone. Just lots of damaged and sick people wondering what happened, who will likely not even get a "sorry".