Forget about climate change, loss of soil and insects will doom us first.

[Goonie]

The United States went through a worse disaster than that in the 1930's (Dust Bowl) and came back.

Now apparently Germany is experiencing something not quite as bad, but wants the world to respond.

More fake science scare tactics being propagated so they can get more money.

Hey the dust bowl is an example of soil loss, nothing to do with insects. The example of insects in Germany is that if in even the most protected areas there has been a 75% loss, what is going on in the less protected? Note insects are quite important in pollinating plants, once they go...

 

[Goonie]

First the world is bigger than fraud $cientists state. There is unlimited resources till Jesus returns (see the discoveries by Admiral Richard Byrd).

This also proves that the God's way is the best.



Every 7th year, we're supposed to rest the land. This is important because it refreshes the soil with nutrients. Todays crop provides very little vitamins/minerals because it is over farmed (even organic crop).

Well your half right, we are massively over farming the land.

 

[Obliquinaut]

Malthus is taught in regard to the history of science. The thing is he never took account of developments in technology and agriculture.

Indeed. For all the attacks on science you see on these CF threads it is easy to forget that the reason most of us are here and have the standard of living we do is because of agricultural science.

It amazes me how many people have no idea of the massive breakthroughs that the USDA alone is responsible for. Their scientists (going back to the early 19th century!) have been able to make massive improvements in agriculture and food and materials utilization. And that doesn't even count the rest of the world in the "Green Revolution"

The ecological disasters are being observed in the here and now.

Many religious people cannot differentiate between forecasting a data-based trend and randomly guessing the hour of the end of the world based on someone's exegetical acrobatics reading between the lines of a holy book.

As someone pointed out in another post: it's like driving slower when it's snowing outside. I guess if I were to do that a good Christian would point out to me that I am doing exactly the same thing the Millerites were doing.

 

[Obliquinaut]

First the world is bigger than fraud $cientists state. There is unlimited resources till Jesus returns

HEY! You got extra points there! Violating the 9th Commandment and invoking Jesus' name in the same paragraph!

Bravo! Bravo!

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

I am not worried about the insects, I am worried about me. Insecticide effects the nervous system and I really do not want that in my food. I am worried about it enough so that I will pay extra for organic food that does not have any insecticide in it.

Is that some kind of special organic food? because organic farmers are allowed to, and do, use pesticides of 'natural origin' - and pesticides of natural origin can pose health risks. See Mythbusting 101 - Organic Farming.

Just sayin'.

 

[JCFantasy23]

In a few days, I'll be driving through many miles of California farmland, where my car always comes out covered in bugs, and every bridge is coated in the adobe dwellings of those bug-eating birds. Yeah, those farms are really putting a dent in the bug population.

For me it's opposite. I just realized that, for the first time in 20 years, I haven't had a lady bug windshield problem the past two years. Cars were covered in summer in Florida before but now there are hardly any lady bugs.

 

[Willis Gravning]

Insectageddon: farming is more catastrophic than climate breakdown | George Monbiot
Warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbers
With less than 60 years of harvests left in what remains of fertile soil, and a dramatic 75% decline in insects in some of the best protected nature reserves in Germany pointing towards the end of habitable life on earth.

Doommongering? Just stating the observed facts.

The insect world may be our 'canary in the coal mine'. I've noticed some insects that were commonly seen in my childhood are almost never seen anymore. The small ladybug is one of them. We now see the larger Asian beetle but it is not the same species. The honey bees population is down as well.

In the late 1800s clouds of Rocky Mountain locust descended on farms and homesteads eating everything for miles creating great hardship for many. A few short years later the Rocky Mountain locust was extinct. So things do change in the insect world. In the end, I suspect insects will be around long after humans are no more.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

What's particularly disturbing about the 75% (average) drop in insects, is that the measurements were taken in nature reserves, where you'd expect to find the greatest numbers...

However unpleasant large numbers of insects can be, we rely on them for crop pollination (and all flowering plants), and they're a major food source for our ecosystems.

 

[Goonie]

What's particularly disturbing about the 75% (average) drop in insects, is that the measurements were taken in nature reserves, where you'd expect to find the greatest numbers...

However unpleasant large numbers of insects can be, we rely on them for crop pollination (and all flowering plants), and they're a major food source for our ecosystems.

Indeed, the mass use of insecticides is impacting the whole food chain.

 

[FredVB]

Diminishing of the bee population is observed because of the bee keepers, they use them for distribution of their honey. But the real issue of the loss of bees is the loss of the needed pollination, and loss of available food from that. Beekeepers and propaganda they favor can have you think consuming honey supports their population, but this is wrong, it is hurting their numbers.

And not many people sympathize with bees, but honey is in fact a cruel industry. Though this process varies, queen bees will often have their wings cut off to prevent them from leaving and similar to cows are artificially inseminated with syringes to be bred. Bees have their honey from their work, their food, taken from them and in the process are crushed and killed. They are then fed a cheap corn syrup that makes them sick, and before winter the hive is either gassed or smoked with the bees alive inside to kill them off for financial reasons.

We could though certainly take care of and provide homes for them without exploiting them solely for our benefit.

Honey is profitable, though aside from that honeybees still matter.

Honey bees have been naturally making their honey way before we started exploiting them, and will continue to do so without taking their honey.
How to actually help bees:
- Support bee sanctuaries that do not take or sell their honey
- Grow a garden (Cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds, lavender, bluebells, crocus, mint, rosemary, poppies, snapdragons, etc are all good flowers)
- Don't use chemicals or pesticides on your lawn (http://www.onegreenplanet.org/.../miracle-gro-parent.../)
- Leave a small bowl of water and pebbles outside
- Let dandelions and weeds grow

Also, did you know that honey is also tested on other animals???
This includes dogs, sheep, cattle, horses, donkeys, goats, rabbits, mice, cats and rats.

So please, switch to a vegan alternative! There are so many yummy choices.
Such as:
- Maple syrup
- Coconut nectar
- Agave nectar
- Date paste
- Brown rice syrup
- Molasses
- Yacon root syrup
- Bee-free honee
- Homemade pineapple honee
recipe

- Homemade apple honee
recipe