• mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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    7 months ago

    A global apocalypse has already happened (and is continuing, within what wreckage remains) in the insect and amphibian populations. Almost no one outside a small community of scientists that are specifically in that field has even noticed, let alone has a theory for why, or a guess as to whether it is an urgent problem.

    But yes it seems like an urgent problem.

    • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Nobody has a theory why insect populations are catastrophically falling? I highly doubt that.

      I mean, wouldn’t the prolific use of pesticide be a pretty damn obvious cause? Wherever humans go, we spray for bugs.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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        7 months ago

        Yeah; I should have said no one has a compelling proven explanation. There are a lot of theories obviously. This article goes into a little bit of detail about it, although in my opinion is proffering its “death by a thousand cuts” theory without that being the consensus of the scientists i.e. “yes this is exactly the combination of factors responsible and they are all significant, we are confident.” It’s more just that things are collapsing too completely and quickly to even be able to coherently study for root cause(s).

        • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Probably closer to “death by a thousand chainsaws” but yeah. People try to kill insects, and they succeed. Add that on top of all the other stuff humans do that kills species unintentionally (deforestation, monocropping, climate change, etc.) and there’s no wonder the population is collapsing suddenly and rapidly.

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I mean we used to have giant frog spawns every spring where we would have to be careful walking or we would step on several frogs at a time.

      We haven’t had one in 5 years.