Feb
11th
2019
Insects are going extinct · 6:58am Feb 11th, 2019
I...I just read a journal entry on the Daily Kos.
It was talking about a study from the Elsevier Journal of Conservation. According to the study, we're losing about 2.5% of our total insect population every year. If this trend continues, insects could be extinct within a century.
No more insects. That's...bad. Incredibly bad. I mean, insects are a food source for all kinds of animals. If they're gone, what are those animals going to eat? Whose going to pollinate our crops or break down dead plants and animals?
We have to do something. Now. If we lose insects...we lose everything.
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Flint-Lock · 293 views
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There's a whole lot more than just this going on though. It all makes me very sad and worried for the future of the planet.
I hope I'm not too pessimistic, but there's really not much we can do as long as we have old, traditionalist people in charge of our nation.
People keep spraying their houses and gardens with pesticides.
No, I'm not talking food crops, I'm talking about the greater surface of the planet covered in residential areas.
When will people learn...?
....when the bees die.
5011333
Some scientists think it's the rising temperature.
5011338
Bee keepers will beg to differ.
In recent years, on cans of Mortein and Raid there has been an added warning of "Extremely Ecotoxic to Bees".
That is the case in Australia.
On the topic of bug sprays, did you know that orange oil makes an super potent bug killer that does not leave lingering poisons ?
Our family has not bought cans of flyspray for over a decade - we order orange oil pressed from the rinds of old oranges. Dilute that with water and you get a tremendously potent "bad spider" spray that is cheaper than cans.
And on the surface it deters bugs without killing them.
Ive watched daddy Long legs spiders start walking across an orange oil surface, stop and lick their feet, then reverse direction.
EDIT:
Sorry, I was thinking you meant bees only.
My bad.
Yes, rising temperatures have long been stated as a reason for decreasing insect populations.
It's honestly infuriating how much green and environmentally conscious education and propoganda I was forced to consume as a kid to the point where i rolled my eyes and thought it was all too obvious. Now I'm pissed off that's it's not even my peers making these terrible decision but almost the exact same people are in power as when i was growing up are causing the earth to melt.
5011369
I hear you.
I remember in school there were "general science knowledge" posters around the classrooms with pictures of the Earth and global warming in effect.
Now there are people who believe it is crock.
And these people vote.
nice finally no annoying bugs anymore
"If this trend continues" is not how chaotic systems behave.
5011456
The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available,
This is the observed trend.
That is what is being stated.
5011525
I understand, but "trends" don't just continue. If that were true, in 200 years there would be negative insects.
I agree it's a cause for major concern. We're in one of the biggest mass extinctions in Earth's history, we're the cause, and insects are an important set of links in our food web. But something happening in the past isn't an indication it will continue in the future, especially if it involves percentages, which make no sense trending to infinity.
5011596
I think we can realise that the numbers are not that simplistic.
However simply stating that something happening in the past at an observable rate may or may not continue is irresponsible and an argument that the denialists use far too often.
Part of the "continuing the trend" is also to get attention.
In x years, species y will be extinct.
And so on.
If bees go first we’re well and truly fucked.
Yeah I am pretty sure humanity is boned
I'm convinced that we'll kill ourselves off if the book of Revelations doesn't happen first. Which much of the stuff in there sounds like things we could cause to ourselves...
5011728
Has been since the 80s. Everyone knew, no one did anything, and now it is too late.