An on line discussion of books that have been or are currently being read by members of the Audubon Naturalist Society Conservation Philosophy Reading Group. We choose books, old and new, that collectively constitute the intellectual underpinnings of conservation philosophy.
January 30, 2023: The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World, by Oliver Milman
The data presented in this book are devastating. I wonder how may employees of Monsanto et al will read it. I was pleased to read that in 2018, one year following the Krefield report of insect decline in natural areas of Germany, the European Union banned most neonicotinoids. But there is nothing to prevent their replacement by new ones. When will we learn to demand that the studies be done before the release? Neonics are water soluble and persist in the environment. By the time the harmful effects are obvious it is too late. The commercial honey bee story is an allegory of desperation. Oh, the lengths we'll go to keep the human population growing! Elimination of fence rows and roadside swaths, the last remaining places for wild bees to thrive. Insects need corridors too! Humans cannot exist without them.
1 comment:
The data presented in this book are devastating. I wonder how may employees of Monsanto et al will read it.
I was pleased to read that in 2018, one year following the Krefield report of insect decline in natural areas of Germany, the European Union banned most neonicotinoids. But there is nothing to prevent their replacement by new ones. When will we learn to demand that the studies be done before the release? Neonics are water soluble and persist in the environment. By the time the harmful effects are obvious it is too late.
The commercial honey bee story is an allegory of desperation. Oh, the lengths we'll go to keep the human population growing! Elimination of fence rows and roadside swaths, the last remaining places for wild bees to thrive.
Insects need corridors too!
Humans cannot exist without them.
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