The Use Of Pesticides. Part 3

The Use Of Pesticides. Part 3.

As in my previous post (The Use Of Pesticides. Part 2). The use of pesticides continues to be a significant factor in this ongoing issue. The use of pesticides Part 3 further explores how, without doubt, the insect population is in peril. The causes are many and varied but it’s not rocket science. 

  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—and in England, one of the most nature-poor countries on Earth, nearly three quarters of the land is farmed. 

  Of course we do not want to reduce farming it is our food source. But farmers need to eliminate destructive pests from their crops. 

  Unfortunately pesticides kill any and all insects that are exposed. Meaning even nondestructive insects are eliminated as well. 

  Home, public, and commercial use is out of control. A significant percentage of the one billion pounds of pesticides and herbicides applied annually in the United States is for this purpose. 

  In 2019, the Entomological Society of America held a symposium in St Louis, Missouri, to pull together data from around the world and ended by describing the decline of insects as ‘death by a thousand cuts’.

  There are alternatives.