Insect Apocalypse?

[NH Homesteader]

This is a long but intriguing read

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/...VuF891oZTocJ3iII4cl60FcEdA9fzlpcJffV4EdDdIa44

 

[Amiga]

Sobering.

For myself, I find I can rarely just walk away from information like this. So, years ago, because of my Permaculture training about beneficial critters and then continuing with what I see in my own yard, I started letting wild islands come up around the place.

Wild islands are little areas (or big ones ) that volunteer, with mostly native plants and fungi. The soil is not disturbed, and the plant material is left standing in autumn and over winter. Just nature.

Since several wild islands have been in place, I have seen more songbirds, more types of songbirds, more types of beneficial insects, in larger numbers, and far fewer pests. Just my yard, yes, but there are millions of people on this continent with yards.

A local community organization is letting me convert lawn to resilient gardens and mercy, the improvement is so fast, once you direct and hold rainwater in appropriate places, and pile on the wood chip mulch! Bees, birds, and the soil has come alive! There was one incident of fall web worms on a mulberry. A little diluted dish soap did them in, and the mulberry kept on rockin’!

That was two years ago, no sign of them since.

I also allow possums to shelter on my property. I do not have horses, just ducks, and the possums have no access to them. Possums, I am told, eat thousands of ticks, and are mostly unaffected - do not carry - Lyme Disease. This year I have seen maybe four ticks. On any of us, not even attached (just luck about that). Maybe it’s having a better balanced natural environment that helps, I cannot prove it.

I hope this is some encouragement. One person’s efforts may not seem like much. At the same time, I choose not to just sit back and do nothing. And I have friends and associates around the world, dozens of them, who are leading groups of people in restoring ecosystems.

I often recall this quote from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Aragorn: I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I know the article is about the decline of insects...and the decline in numbers they are talking about is absolutely mind-boggling.

This really hit me though:
It is estimated that, since 1970, Earth’s various populations of wild land animals have lost, on average, 60 percent of their members. Zeroing in on the category we most relate to, mammals, scientists believe that for every six wild creatures that once ate and burrowed and raised young, only one remains. What we have instead is ourselves. A study published this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that if you look at the world’s mammals by weight, 96 percent of that biomass is humans and livestock; just 4 percent is wild animals.

As my husband says quite often "Humans are a blight upon this earth."

 

[Mini Horses]

It IS shocking. However, I believe my skunk population is growing and I would like decline there! Fox & coyote have reduced much squirrel & rabbit populations. We do have some groundhog about.

My neighbor has been reducing the fox & coyote over a couple years. Unfortunately, a Mr Fox reduced some of my chickens before his number came up.

A concern for me -- and should be fore most farmers -- the decline in bees. Chemicals are the main culprit. Then, chemicals are not doing we humans any good either.

ETA: I was posting as you were Amiga -- I live in a location that does have a good amount of natural landscape and basically our wildlife is pretty vigorous. Sometimes too much so. But plenty of undisturbed woods, water and clearings. There are crops raised in the area but not so excessive as to be a concern. The after use is appreciated by the abundant deer.

 

[tortoise]

This is in contrast to a farmer raising cash crops as his livelihood. At that scale, it is an entirely different ball game. A great friend of mine farms at that scale for a living. In order for him to do that efficiently, conventional chemical usage is necessary. If not, the crop (part of the monoculture) fails and he can't pay his bills.

I rent crop land to large scale farming. This past year, our 30 acres along with neighbors' 20 and 15 acres were planted with wax beans. They had one spray of fertilizer, but no herbicide. They cultivated the field twice. After harvest mid summer (wax beans), the field was left to rest and then later a winter crop sown. I'm not sure if it is a cover crop or maybe something like rye that is started the winter before the year of harvest. It was very interesting to see a different way of cultivation. Previous two years, renting to same farmer, were soybeans and field corn, with herbicides. I am hoping for no round up again. Our neighbor wants to go organic (although he uses crazy amounts of roundup on his own stuff, go figure) and I believe he is going to rent to a hay producer. We're landlocked by hi field so may go that way too. I hate roundup being used here. I keep telling DH that it really IS up to us if we decide to rent to someone who is going to use it.

 

[CrealCritter]

@Britesea , there are population reducing initiatives which don't interfere with human rights. Reducing child mortality and improving education for women both correlate with lower birth rates. In fact, most of the women's right and human rights issues are ones which correlate with lower birth rates. Globally, birth rates are greatly reduced from 100 years ago, where many countries have birth rates low enough to begin reducing their populations. That's great except for USA's social security system.

My wife and I messed all those statics up.

 

[tortoise]

Population-wide, it's fine. Not every single family has to be small. That's what's great. People still retain autonomy and choice in family size. As of 2018, USA dropped below the birthrate benchmark for maintaining population. If trends in the last 5 years sustain (and not including immigration), the USA population will decline.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Shocking, isn't it?

 

[CrealCritter]

I also allow possums to shelter on my property. I do not have horses, just ducks, and the possums have no access to them. Possums, I am told, eat thousands of ticks, and are mostly unaffected - do not carry - Lyme Disease. This year I have seen maybe four ticks. On any of us, not even attached (just luck about that). Maybe it’s having a better balanced natural environment that helps, I cannot prove it.

Baked Possum recipe ---> https://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/628/Baked-Possum84305.shtml

Would I eat it? Hell no, but I thought I would pass it along anyways, since you have an abundance of tasty stinky crtiters right under your nose.

 

[BarredBuff]

It IS shocking. However, I believe my skunk population is growing and I would like decline there! Fox & coyote have reduced much squirrel & rabbit populations. We do have some groundhog about.

My neighbor has been reducing the fox & coyote over a couple years. Unfortunately, a Mr Fox reduced some of my chickens before his number came up.

A concern for me -- and should be fore most farmers -- the decline in bees. Chemicals are the main culprit. Then, chemicals are not doing we humans any good either.

ETA: I was posting as you were Amiga -- I live in a location that does have a good amount of natural landscape and basically our wildlife is pretty vigorous. Sometimes too much so. But plenty of undisturbed woods, water and clearings. There are crops raised in the area but not so excessive as to be a concern. The after use is appreciated by the abundant deer.

It's honestly a two-edged sword. We lose pollinators from possible chemical use, but also we can't farm enough to feed the population without them. Its an interesting and complex situation.