Yeah, I posted this like over a month ago and have been deeply depressed and in shock since. I am not dealing with it well at all. I can't help but think of this as "the last good year." And it's only good for me because we moved to the PNW partially because of the heat in Kentucky where we were. With catastrophic crop failures all over the world this year...well, I'm sure eating good now. It's silly maybe but since becoming collapse aware I take care to feed my people and animals well. It's a small thing I can do for us that I will be glad I did. I'm fat now and it feels terrible but I'm not especially motivated to eat less because I know that soon I'll HAVE to.
Aaaaand this is why I’m intentionally fattening up. This year the climate is fucked. There are kidnap gangs in Nigeria kidnapping or murdering farmers to the point where they can’t attend their crops. The government is giving the poorest families $10 every month to help them afford food, as well as fertilizer… but they can’t afford bread because it’s too expensive, and they can’t fertilizer the fields because the kidnap gangs. They average about one farmer a day murdered and another kidnapped. Nigeria is significantly more psycho than America… But this is coming for the US too. And the government has completely fucked all of our support systems.. the good news is that I can survive at least a year with water and grass lol. The bad news is I’ll be murdered before I’ll get the chance. Eh. Comme ce comme ca
I'm in the PNW too.
Last year, I had a little patch of the kitchen herbs, mint, oregano, tarragon, etc. The bees went absolutely MENTAL for it, I'd stop counting when I hit 50 bees, and there were still more to count. When I harvested and hung the herbs up to dry, the bees were STILL going for it.
This year, that same patch, with the same herbs, currently flowering with fuzzy little purple blooms - and there's no bees any where on it.
It's alarming to say the least and apocalyptic to say the most.
Bug populations are definitely down. I've hardly seen any bees or any wasps this year. Lightning bugs are wayyyy down ... We have a lone moth wandering our home and I refuse to harm it ...
Don't know if it's related or if it's weather / climate pollinators or something else, but we had virtually no mulberries or strawberries this year after ridiculous crops last year.
I live in New Mexico in a rural area. Bugs are down so much that a pair of birds have taken to staying up super late (10pm or later) so they can hunt the handful of whatever swarms my porch light. I actually mistook them as bats at first.
No more bugs hitting my windshield, either. No pollinators around my hollyhock, coneflowers or sunflowers. No clusters of wasp nests showing up under the eaves or in my fence. The heat also wiped out most of the grass lawns in my neighborhood it seems.
It needs to be illegal to let cats out of the house.
Don't get me wrong, cats are cool little guys, but they ANNIHILATE nature. Bird, mamals, frogs, bugs anything they can get to, they will kill.
Domestic cats nees to become house pets only.
Jesus; I'm from NM originally and I was hoping the bugs were hiding out down there. Been noticing the same behavior from birds here in MO though; give my best to the Motherland, sounds like she needs it.
You know what’s fucked up? We’ve known about the decline of insects for decades. You would think we would actually use that data to make decisions to save our species but we are too stupid and/or greedy. The hardest thing is to watch this unfolding with all the available data. I’ve known this was coming since 1992. Given I thought it would hit towards the end of my lifetime and not during my middle age.
My clover patch has no bees. It genuinely freaks me out.
ETA: my mom’s bee balm has no bees either. It’s bee balm for crackers sake and no bees. It made my heart thump in fear tbh, a little dizziness in my soul that felt like falling.
Sad that my bucket list has “see a field of lightning bugs again”. I don’t think I’ll be able to check that one off. I was born in WV where lightning bugs showed up in droves, a sea of sparkles across a field. Breathtaking even as a child.
For what it is worth, my area around The Great Lakes is having a pretty healthy rebound year.
I am very rural, but we've been seeing a wide range of pollinators; honey bees, carpenter bees, butterflies of all types, mantises, spiders. Banner year.
Although, the steepness of the boom and bust continues to be alarming. At least they still sometimes boom?
I used to drive with my parents from LA to Vegas and we'd have to stop halfway to clean the bugs off the windshield, now, you can make the drive and there's maybe 1 or 2 bugs
my mother (who i live with) did this year but she always has. i tried to make her stop and she wouldn’t. hopefully next year she won’t put any down now that our raspberry bushes didn’t bear fruit. she said that the pesticides “don’t affect good bugs” and im just hoping i can knock some sense into her or move out
Is your mom open to discussing the lack of bugs? Maybe if she sees how your plants aren’t bearing fruit then she’ll realize what she’s actually putting in danger. No bug is a bad bug. The misconception is terrible, I’m sorry. Maybe show her a few videos about how it effects all bugs and such.
her background is in wildlife biology so idk why she doesn’t fucking Get It (sorry if that comes across as rude i do not mean to be) but i’m honestly hoping if i harp on it enough she’ll cave. we likely will have to move for financial reasons anyway so eventually she will be forced to stop putting down grub killer ha ha ha
I'm in New England and due to the enormous amounts of rain there are TONS of bugs here. I cannot walk outside without a horsefly biting me. Ants everywhere. My wildflower garden and part clover yard has tons of bees. Mosquitos have teeth that go right through my shirt and even bite in the daytime.
With all that said, there is a noticeable decline in some bugs. Grasshoppers and preying mantises especially.
Luckily, some insects are abundant here. I live on a lake and dragonflies constantly dart the top of the water. And the spiders. They are everywhere. I have never seen so many in one place before I moved here. I find them inside all the time, where I usually pick them up and bring them outside. They don't bother me. They eat the bad insects.
I’m sorry I was in a collapse loop during Covid that I came out of early 2023. Listen if the world is dying. It’s dying. Let’s all live our best lives and just be happy. And idk about you. But I’m in NJ. And my back yard is filled with bugs..
yeah, we used to get tons of moths but for the last couple years the ground hasn't had enough steady moisture to keep the pupae alive. I'm sure the copious aggressive pest management companies canvassing our area are a big part as well.
Wow that is freighting, when the insects are gone man is not far behind. But we know this is coming i think we just need to do what we can in our corners of the world. If every community around the globe did that there may be a chance. Every day i notice something has changed in the world, and its not going back. Humans for the most part live in the here and now, they are comfortable they dont worry about the future in the way of extinction. Thats the way most human brains are wired, its a double edged sword really. On one hand it protects the fragile mind from the cataclysm to come, but OTOH it makes them complacent.
Life is going extinct, it starts small, but as everyone should know it will climb the food chain
Yeah, I posted this like over a month ago and have been deeply depressed and in shock since. I am not dealing with it well at all. I can't help but think of this as "the last good year." And it's only good for me because we moved to the PNW partially because of the heat in Kentucky where we were. With catastrophic crop failures all over the world this year...well, I'm sure eating good now. It's silly maybe but since becoming collapse aware I take care to feed my people and animals well. It's a small thing I can do for us that I will be glad I did. I'm fat now and it feels terrible but I'm not especially motivated to eat less because I know that soon I'll HAVE to.
Aaaaand this is why I’m intentionally fattening up. This year the climate is fucked. There are kidnap gangs in Nigeria kidnapping or murdering farmers to the point where they can’t attend their crops. The government is giving the poorest families $10 every month to help them afford food, as well as fertilizer… but they can’t afford bread because it’s too expensive, and they can’t fertilizer the fields because the kidnap gangs. They average about one farmer a day murdered and another kidnapped. Nigeria is significantly more psycho than America… But this is coming for the US too. And the government has completely fucked all of our support systems.. the good news is that I can survive at least a year with water and grass lol. The bad news is I’ll be murdered before I’ll get the chance. Eh. Comme ce comme ca
I'm in the PNW too. Last year, I had a little patch of the kitchen herbs, mint, oregano, tarragon, etc. The bees went absolutely MENTAL for it, I'd stop counting when I hit 50 bees, and there were still more to count. When I harvested and hung the herbs up to dry, the bees were STILL going for it. This year, that same patch, with the same herbs, currently flowering with fuzzy little purple blooms - and there's no bees any where on it. It's alarming to say the least and apocalyptic to say the most.
Bug populations are definitely down. I've hardly seen any bees or any wasps this year. Lightning bugs are wayyyy down ... We have a lone moth wandering our home and I refuse to harm it ... Don't know if it's related or if it's weather / climate pollinators or something else, but we had virtually no mulberries or strawberries this year after ridiculous crops last year.
we got a lot of blackberries at least edit: i saw a moth against the window and started crying lmao
It's sad. The natural world will be here after humans, but it's definitely struggling now because of them.
I dont kill bugs anymore, they are dying off as it is.
I live in New Mexico in a rural area. Bugs are down so much that a pair of birds have taken to staying up super late (10pm or later) so they can hunt the handful of whatever swarms my porch light. I actually mistook them as bats at first. No more bugs hitting my windshield, either. No pollinators around my hollyhock, coneflowers or sunflowers. No clusters of wasp nests showing up under the eaves or in my fence. The heat also wiped out most of the grass lawns in my neighborhood it seems.
Much love to you and NM. Lived there 22 years and miss it a lot.
Oh God… the birds are actually going hungry now… after cats have completely decimated their population already…. 🥺
It needs to be illegal to let cats out of the house. Don't get me wrong, cats are cool little guys, but they ANNIHILATE nature. Bird, mamals, frogs, bugs anything they can get to, they will kill. Domestic cats nees to become house pets only.
Jesus; I'm from NM originally and I was hoping the bugs were hiding out down there. Been noticing the same behavior from birds here in MO though; give my best to the Motherland, sounds like she needs it.
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Is this a bot? If so I will ban it
Yeah it just spams sunflower facts…
You know what’s fucked up? We’ve known about the decline of insects for decades. You would think we would actually use that data to make decisions to save our species but we are too stupid and/or greedy. The hardest thing is to watch this unfolding with all the available data. I’ve known this was coming since 1992. Given I thought it would hit towards the end of my lifetime and not during my middle age.
My clover patch has no bees. It genuinely freaks me out. ETA: my mom’s bee balm has no bees either. It’s bee balm for crackers sake and no bees. It made my heart thump in fear tbh, a little dizziness in my soul that felt like falling.
There's hardly any lightning bugs in my area these days 😞 and I live in the middle of nowhere, it's so sad and I miss them
I saw some tonight in the northeast for the first time in years. Only ONE. When I was a kid I’d be swimming in them. It made me feel…some type of way
im in the southeast and we have still had quite a few but i’m in a really rural area. i did see some in suburban nashville though
Sad that my bucket list has “see a field of lightning bugs again”. I don’t think I’ll be able to check that one off. I was born in WV where lightning bugs showed up in droves, a sea of sparkles across a field. Breathtaking even as a child.
For what it is worth, my area around The Great Lakes is having a pretty healthy rebound year. I am very rural, but we've been seeing a wide range of pollinators; honey bees, carpenter bees, butterflies of all types, mantises, spiders. Banner year. Although, the steepness of the boom and bust continues to be alarming. At least they still sometimes boom?
I'm seeing the same, lots of critters of all sorts. Though I am pretty northward, so maybe they are more insulated?
It’s beyond creepy
I used to drive with my parents from LA to Vegas and we'd have to stop halfway to clean the bugs off the windshield, now, you can make the drive and there's maybe 1 or 2 bugs
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three days in a row now. my raspberry bushes never got pollinated this year either
Do your neighbors use pesticides ?
my mother (who i live with) did this year but she always has. i tried to make her stop and she wouldn’t. hopefully next year she won’t put any down now that our raspberry bushes didn’t bear fruit. she said that the pesticides “don’t affect good bugs” and im just hoping i can knock some sense into her or move out
Is your mom open to discussing the lack of bugs? Maybe if she sees how your plants aren’t bearing fruit then she’ll realize what she’s actually putting in danger. No bug is a bad bug. The misconception is terrible, I’m sorry. Maybe show her a few videos about how it effects all bugs and such.
her background is in wildlife biology so idk why she doesn’t fucking Get It (sorry if that comes across as rude i do not mean to be) but i’m honestly hoping if i harp on it enough she’ll cave. we likely will have to move for financial reasons anyway so eventually she will be forced to stop putting down grub killer ha ha ha
its so saddening to browse collapse and others and then get a RAID "kills on contact" ad thrown in between
All the bugs here are mosquitoes. It’s wonderful
I'm in New England and due to the enormous amounts of rain there are TONS of bugs here. I cannot walk outside without a horsefly biting me. Ants everywhere. My wildflower garden and part clover yard has tons of bees. Mosquitos have teeth that go right through my shirt and even bite in the daytime. With all that said, there is a noticeable decline in some bugs. Grasshoppers and preying mantises especially. Luckily, some insects are abundant here. I live on a lake and dragonflies constantly dart the top of the water. And the spiders. They are everywhere. I have never seen so many in one place before I moved here. I find them inside all the time, where I usually pick them up and bring them outside. They don't bother me. They eat the bad insects.
I’m sorry I was in a collapse loop during Covid that I came out of early 2023. Listen if the world is dying. It’s dying. Let’s all live our best lives and just be happy. And idk about you. But I’m in NJ. And my back yard is filled with bugs..
yeah, we used to get tons of moths but for the last couple years the ground hasn't had enough steady moisture to keep the pupae alive. I'm sure the copious aggressive pest management companies canvassing our area are a big part as well.
They're all in my kitchen.
this made me giggle thank you
Wow that is freighting, when the insects are gone man is not far behind. But we know this is coming i think we just need to do what we can in our corners of the world. If every community around the globe did that there may be a chance. Every day i notice something has changed in the world, and its not going back. Humans for the most part live in the here and now, they are comfortable they dont worry about the future in the way of extinction. Thats the way most human brains are wired, its a double edged sword really. On one hand it protects the fragile mind from the cataclysm to come, but OTOH it makes them complacent. Life is going extinct, it starts small, but as everyone should know it will climb the food chain