to think we are f***ed without insects?

[TakeawayTakeMeAway]

Last night I read a magazine article about a Dutch insect study which said that the number of insects in the country has declined by about 75% since 1992.

It pointed out that if this rate of decline continues, then in ten years we’ll have fuck all left.

The situation (as in, scientifically documented decline in insect numbers) is the same in the UK, Germany, and I believe a number of other countries.

But we’re all looking the other way! Ten years is no time

[TakeawayTakeMeAway]

Indie article from last year: //www.independent.co.uk/news/science/flying-insects-numbers-drop-ecological-armageddon-75-per-cent-plummet-a8008406.html%3famp

[halfwitpicker]

Tell that to tastylancs

[SemperIdem]

Surely all insects worldwide won’t be gone in 10 years?

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

So in ten years the world will end?

[Haggisfish]

Not all, no, but enough of populations to effectively render them useless in terms of the vital roles they play in ecosystems.

[lettuceWrap]

Well, we are now relentlessly spraying crops with synthetic, systemic insecticides, so it’s not surprising that insect populations are being drastically reduced is it?

Vote with your food dollars/pounds, as much as you can afford to - buy organic. Better for you, better for the environment.

[peartreeishappy]

Well, there’ll be less for the neurotic hystericals to scream about and burn their houses down over

[TakeawayTakeMeAway]

@lettucewrap apparently it’s also important to leave areas of grass unmown, verges, hedgerows etc. The flowers and the longer grass are essential habitat for many insects/butterflies.

Lavender was also said to be a good idea for bees.

[lettuceWrap]

Yes, absolutely!

[peartreeishappy]

With more and more people getting rid of their gardens and installing fake grass I fear the situation can only get worse

[Bestbe]

I’ve got a big garden and I’ve made part of it into a meadow. Next year I’m going to make it much bigger. I’ve definitely seen more insects because of this. Also I’ve put in lavender for the bees and got some logs to rot at the bottom of the garden. Because I’m worried about hedgehogs I put in a large shallow dish for water for them, but a Fox pooed in it. Yuck.
This all really worries me so I do things to try and make myself feel better. The meadow is stunning and well worth the effort.

[Clarich007]

We've just driven down to the South of France and back, so covered a lot of miles, and the difference in there and here is unvelievable.
There are miles and miles of set aside margins, poppy fields and wildflowers everywhere.
Birds are everywhere and the birdsong is fantastic.It was so lovely to see and hear.

[PaintedHorizons]

I know - but you will never make people care. Too stupid, too selfish.

[Racecardriver]

That's very interesting. Has this had any noticible negative effects on the country as a whole? 75% is huge, I would have thought that it would have caused some major problems. Maybe they aren't that important after all.

[peartreeishappy]

People demonstrate very poor attitudes towards the natural world now. We share the world with these creatures and we should be taking care of them not being greedy and hogging everything for ourselves and trashing their homes. The fake grass makes me want to weep.

[SabineUndine]

I’ve just been in Rome, right in the middle, and they are letting meadows grow in the city centre.

[peartreeishappy]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-bird-numbers-species-declines-british-wildlife-turtle-dove-corn-bunting-willow-tits-farmland-a7744666.html%3famp

[lettuceWrap]

Racecardriver, you’d soon notice if there were no insects to pollinate all the insect pollinated food crops you currently enjoy eating!

[peartreeishappy]

Bats also rely on insects.

[peartreeishappy]

People will only notice when it affects them which it probably won’t because they’re quite happy eating synthetic foods.

[Etino]

@Clarich007
Where do you live? I drove for 5 hours on Sunday through London and East Anglia and was really heartened by all the verge life- great swathes of poppies, cowslips and lots of other stuff I don’t know.
I’m not dismissing the seriousness of the situation Silent Spring was published in 1962 😥😡

[User5trillion]

We have built some bug hotels, planted a wildflower meadow in tubs (no space), we have put in a bird bath and planted loads of lavender. Next year its bird boxes and covering the bare fence with climbers. People are stupid and we are walking into a crisis and no one really cares

[Ethylred]

"Organic" is self-indulgent bollocks that the world cannot afford.
Because it means growing one ear of corn where two grew before.
Oh, and look up ergotism to find out what can happen without fungicides.

[TakeawayTakeMeAway]

What would happen without insects?

thescienceexplorer.com/nature/what-would-happen-if-all-earth-s-insects-vanished

[ToadOfSadness]

I have several bug hotels/bee houses, and a ladybird house. I buy ladybird larvae every year mainly to keep the aphid population down because I am a 'green gardener' but also because I enjoy seeing ladybirds and it is the only way to see any, although there were a couple that I think made use of the hotel.

I look after wasps as well as bees, they are also pollinators. My garden is not manicured and neat, I have a woodpile and a patch of weeds, I grow clover in the lawn, pots of lavender all over the place and shallow water bowls set up for bees. A large plant saucer with pebbles so that bees don't drown, and for the ones near the bee houses a little saucer of wet mud so they can seal the holes up. I have flowering plants spread around the garden.

I have bees living in the plastic below my gutter, and there is usually a wasp nest around but this year I can't find one which saddens me.

Too many people are getting plastic grass and decking and getting rid of the trees. When it all goes tits up they will be the first to complain.