I know what will be the subject of my nightmares that are set to commence in approximately five hours: the “insect armageddon.” According to a report released by the Germany Ministry for the Environment, the “insect armageddon” is being worsened by lawn care appliances like leaf blowers and our need to have leaf-free lawns.
Yet, the German ministry didn’t advocate for a ban even though we’re in the middle of — and I cannot stress this enough — an insect armageddon. Instead, the appliances should only used when the situation makes them “indispensable.” Kill me like the insects.
A University of Cambridge zoology lecturer called leaf blowers and similar appliances “too tidy,” which is the only time I laughed after getting the news of the armageddon. “I think that leaf blowers fall into the category of being ‘too tidy’ and this can be very bad for insects. Basically, I think we just need to be a little less tidy and a little more tolerant of ‘weeds,’” Turner told The Independent. “I think insects, and therefore lots of other species, would benefit.”
This report follows a report published last week by an ecologist in the United Kingdom that found that “bugs are dying out eight times faster than larger animals with 40 percent of the roughly one million known insect species facing extinction as a result,” The Independent reported.
We’re losing species at an alarming rate and the planet is dying. And yet, the idea of us losing insects is troubling me even more than typical news about the climate crisis does. Basically, this news registers about a 6 out of 10 for me on the climate crisis scale; I’ve larger adjusted to regularly reading news of our decaying planet. How does this news rate on your scale?