> "When the total weight of the insects in each sample was measured a startling decline was revealed. The annual average fell by 76% over the 27 year period, but the fall was even higher – 82% – in summer, when insect numbers reach their peak."
Ancedotal evidence suggest insects are indeed disappearing. Driving my car in the 90s I would have to clean off the dead bugs off the front regularly. These days now I only see a few splattered on the windscreen. Extremely worrying and I'm pointing the finger at the new insecticides that the Americans developed during the 90s.
I haven't seen anything like this for years and years on my car - or anyone else's. I don't live in Germany anymore but haven't seen _anything_ like that in Massachusetts or California during the past decade.
Absolutely. In the 1970s, bugs on the windshield and grill happened every single day.
I drove the length of California a year ago, and not a single solitary bug was on my windshield or grill. Completely coated, so you were driving you'd have to run the window washer and wipers every 15 minutes to clean the windshield so that you could see out of it.
California is heavily agricultural in the Central Valley, so I'm sure all the farmers spray the f-ck out of their land to kill every single bug.
Spray the length and width of the valley in a carpet of bug spray, year after year for decades, and there's not going to be any bugs left. Appropriate link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5foZIKuEWQ&t=20s
Have you considered how aerodynamic and round cars are now?
My ancedotal evidence is that I feel like bugs have been less prevelent, on the other hand, the west is in a massive drought and I moved out west a few years ago, as I expect a chunk of smart netziens have aswell(with the technology boom). And we may be comparing our east coast childhoods with our western insect experiences.
Coming back east this year, there are plenty of bugs, its humid and west, much wetter than the west. However this did happen to be the year of the cicaeda swarm.
It is alarming but well, the clickbait does not make any sense. Any whole group of life or material disappear even if it is just say flower plant ... pointless title.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 24.6 ms ] thread[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27948008
> "When the total weight of the insects in each sample was measured a startling decline was revealed. The annual average fell by 76% over the 27 year period, but the fall was even higher – 82% – in summer, when insect numbers reach their peak."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-...
I haven't seen anything like this for years and years on my car - or anyone else's. I don't live in Germany anymore but haven't seen _anything_ like that in Massachusetts or California during the past decade.
https://ibb.co/j301SkQ
Anecdata of course. But this is a thing of the past for me.
I drove the length of California a year ago, and not a single solitary bug was on my windshield or grill. Completely coated, so you were driving you'd have to run the window washer and wipers every 15 minutes to clean the windshield so that you could see out of it.
California is heavily agricultural in the Central Valley, so I'm sure all the farmers spray the f-ck out of their land to kill every single bug.
Spray the length and width of the valley in a carpet of bug spray, year after year for decades, and there's not going to be any bugs left. Appropriate link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5foZIKuEWQ&t=20s
My ancedotal evidence is that I feel like bugs have been less prevelent, on the other hand, the west is in a massive drought and I moved out west a few years ago, as I expect a chunk of smart netziens have aswell(with the technology boom). And we may be comparing our east coast childhoods with our western insect experiences.
Coming back east this year, there are plenty of bugs, its humid and west, much wetter than the west. However this did happen to be the year of the cicaeda swarm.
We have spiders that run in packs, bees, a variety of flies, also other small animals, snails, slugs, at least one toad.
Birds flit in and out to eat them; as if snow-white lives here.
On teams calls, colleagues notice the birds singing outside and assume I must live somewhere nice.
Which I don't.
Just stop gardening and watch what happens.
Although it will not impress the neighbours.