...click on pics to enlarge
I used to have an insect collection as a child and spent many hours running through the fields chasing butterflies and grasshoppers and other insects. In retrospect I was sometimes cruel to them- not maliciously but definitely ignorantly-shooting grasshoppers with a BB gun among other practices. I considered them playthings rather than living things, so it was not until I became an adult that I woke up to having empathy towards all lifeforms.
The first picture is of crane flies mating, and although people often mistake crane flies for mosquitoes, the former are usually bigger and are in fact totally harmless to people. The second picture is of an assassin bug, which are mostly predators of other insects but which can bite people-something I learned by painful experience as a kid. The last picture is of of a red legged grasshopper, a short horned grasshopper and a member of of the sub family 'Spur-throat'. The latter are the common clear winged grasshopper which are abundant in roadside fields.
I have noticed that some species of insects are much less common than they were 50 years ago, which can be attributed to loss of habitat and over spraying of pesticides. The fields where I grew up near Allentown, PA are now housing developments, so thousands of grasshoppers are gone, along with less common butterflies like the painted lady that I used to see regularly.The white 'cabbage' and yellow 'sulfur' and 'alfalfa' butterflies are still numerous, but those few adaptable species cannot sustain an ecosystem. As the insects die off, so do the birds, because moth and butterfly caterpillars are a primary food source of nestlings in the spring. Oak trees can sustain over 500 different species of caterpillar, so cutting them down trickles all along the food chain. As I mentioned in my previous post, this century seems to be a critical one for the planet for many reasons, and as the codependency of so many different lifeforms begins to break down because of human activity, I worry that a tipping point may be reached. Many species and individuals-human beings among them-may die and it won't be the meek that inherit the earth- unless you count bacteria among the meek; they ruled the earth for billions of years and may once again.
I wish I could offer a positive outlook, but the behavior of people over the past year has solidified my awareness that they simply do not care about the social good-never mind less obvious problems such as the slow destruction of the oceans and other planetary issues. Out of sight, out of mind, so long as their preferred little tribe is doing well. I know of a man-the healthy, fit, unvaccinated brother of a friend, in his 40's- who is recovering from a serious co-vid infection yet still refuses to accept the wisdom of vaccines and the ongoing threat of the disease to others. How is the future of the planet to be trusted to such people? This mans freedom of choice includes the choice to ignore the consequences of his actions to both his neighbors and his grandchildren, and that lack of perspective infects millions of educated people around the world. Contrary to their beliefs, the planet is warming and habitat and species are being destroyed and over population is contributing to the exploitation of the Earth...a fragile island spinning within the desolate, cold void of space.
