The Use Of Pesticides. Part 2.
Is the insect population decreasing? Many experts are questioning whether the use of pesticides is impacting this alarming trend.
There is no doubt that our insect population has decreased in a frightening percentage. This is not hear say or a conspiracy theory. It’s factual with studies from leading Universities like Princeton, Yale, Michigan State, and many others. Not to mention leading entomologists throughout the world. Just Google “insect apocalypse”.
Do you need to clean your windshield of your car often of splattered bugs in the past few years? I know I don’t. I have driven across country, from Arizona to Michigan twice, Michigan to Arizona, and Michigan to Alabama. And many other roadtrips in many different environments including countryside roads. Living in a very wooded area in the south, again my windshield is void of bugs. Throughout these thousands of miles I could count the number of dead insects on my windshield and grill on one hand. In the past I remember taking road trips and needing to clean my windshield multiple times. Remember bug and tar remover spray? It wasn’t easy cleaning your grill and bumper of bug guts. I haven’t witnessed that huge bug splat while driving for a long time. This could be influenced by the extensive use of pesticides.
What happened?
We’ve overused insecticides (which kill insects directly) and herbicides (which kill their food plants). We’ve destroyed their habitats on a vast scale. Fully half the land on the planet is now used for farming (sterile of insects). I call these killing fields. The wide-ranging use of pesticides plays a significant role in this scenario.
Just about anywhere you take a step, that ground has been exposed to a pesticide or herbicide. Either directly, from runoff, or tracked. Clearly, the use of pesticides reaches every corner.
There are alternatives.