The collapse of insects

Fantastic article. Well worth the read.

The world has lost 5% to 10% of all insect species in the last 150 years — or between 250,000 and 500,000 species, according to a February 2020 study in the journal Biological Conservation. Those losses are continuing...

I knew we are losing insects, but I was wrong. We are shedding them! ☹️

As to the reasons, unsurprisingly:

...from habitat loss and industrial farming to climate change. Nitrogen overloading from sewage and fertilizers has turned wetlands into dead zones; artificial light is flooding out nighttime skies; and the growth of urban areas has led to concrete sprawl... the introduction of non-native plants...

It is us. Humans. All the way.

This will bite us badly at one point.

Pesticides should be illegal imo.

“Nature is just eroding away very slowly,” Wagner said. As insects disappear, “we’re losing the limbs and the twigs of the tree of life. We’re tearing it apart. And we’re leaving behind a very simplified and ugly tree.”

Absolutely hur wrenching. I can hear the frustration and emotion in that sentence.