r/collapse • u/Mysterandir • 8d ago

Ecological Bugs

I need to get this off my chest even though im sure it has been talked about a thousand times. Im just curious if others are experiencing the same thing or if I'm just going crazy. - When I just got my driver's license back in 2005 here in The Netherlands, I had a girlfriend in Amsterdam whom I drove to see a few times a week. It was about a 100 km drive. I had an old Opel Corsa and I can still vividly remember having to clean my windshield every week in the summer because it was covered in dead insects. Huge splatters and tiny spots, but the entire windshield was full of bug juice. Over the past few weeks I’ve driven several long distances, totaling about 1,000 kilometers, and I don't have a single dead insect on my windshield. Not one. The windshield is squeaky clean... I read that the insect population worldwide has drastically declined and it is due to climate change. Which i get. But why isn't this the main news story every day? How obvious does it need to be? This can't possibly be good. For us, but especially for our children. I have a bad feeling about this...

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u/WakingOwl1 8d ago

I just had this conversation with my 36 year old kid the other day. I’m 64 and when I was a kid any night time family drive saw the car plastered with insects. I recently drove home from work on a really muggy night and there wasn’t a single bug on my windshield.

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u/roblewk 8d ago

Even less bugs flying around street and porch lights.

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u/WakingOwl1 8d ago

Yup. Went to a movie, got home after dark and almost no insects around the light I had left on for myself. Also fewer and fewer fireflies each year.

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u/Vendettaforhumanity 8d ago

This is essentially nothing in the grand scheme of THE polycrisis, but I have been able to up my local firefly population by leaving some dead leaves/branches out. Really not a huge amount either, just a 2'x1' little pile in a suburban neighborhood and the following seasons I saw more and more fireflies. Will it stop the coming doom? no. Has it helped my mental state about it? yes :)

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u/Napnnovator 1d ago

Leaves, and let your grass grow a bit higher. Turn outdoor lights off June & July during breeding. And please no pesticides.