But we need bugs cause that’s going to be a prime source of protein...
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HacksawJ. Duggan Esq.Wrestler at LawRegistered Userregular
Western society in general spends a lot of time and effort destroying insect habitats and using insecticides on our crops/gardens. That is almost certainly the culprit.
Iron fertilization still has the problem of 'the algae also need proper fertilization, otherwise they run out of non-iron trace elements down-current'.
Western society in general spends a lot of time and effort destroying insect habitats and using insecticides on our crops/gardens. That is almost certainly the culprit.
The article talks about a researcher who found the same lack of insects in a part of a forest that is still untouched by those.
Western society in general spends a lot of time and effort destroying insect habitats and using insecticides on our crops/gardens. That is almost certainly the culprit.
I also pay to have a pest control company spray my house 4x a year. I don't know why the dots never connected in my mind before now. I don't know what effect it has, how much it gets into the ground and groundwater.
I don't use fertilizers because of the effect it has on the environment. I'll definitely have to reconsider the quad-annual pesticides my house is sprayed with.
That's something I've been noticing this past couple of years, but never brought up to anyone. I know we always focus on bees, but I've been able to go a while outside in my backyard without being devoured alive by mosquitos in the summer. And while I hate mosquitos as much as the next person, it's just not right to not have to swat away at them in the evening. I thought I was pretty crazy, especially because there still doesn't seem to be much research. Only anecdotes, not data.
It's not crazy. I remember coming home from my grandparent's house in central California at night (two and a half hours or so of drive time) and seeing the windshield become an absolute mess, twenty or so years ago. The last time I drove at night in that part of the country I don't think I even turned on the wipers once.
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
I noticed that too when I was living in Wyoming. Even unto whole species just kinda not being around almost at all anymore? Wind scorpions especially.
I don’t usually do this but uhh, maybe we’re better off
they're basically a camel spider, kinda, only they're about... an inch long? maybe a bit more? i saw a few big'uns but never like internet meme huge. they're a ferocious looking but mostly harmless decapod
I noticed that too when I was living in Wyoming. Even unto whole species just kinda not being around almost at all anymore? Wind scorpions especially.
I don’t usually do this but uhh, maybe we’re better off
they're basically a camel spider, kinda, only they're about... an inch long? maybe a bit more? i saw a few big'uns but never like internet meme huge. they're a ferocious looking but mostly harmless decapod
Largest North American species is, I think, about 3". The are known to charge and chase humans and while not venomous, their bite is nasty and dirty almost guaranteed to become badly infected.
They have emperor scorpions at the pet store I usually go to.
I know the sting isn’t really all that bad and they rarely sting anyway, but the idea of keeping this giant scorpion with a big fuck all stinger on its back just seems like a bad idea.
I'm going to be really unreasonable here and say "fuck scorpions."
"But Thawmus they're necessary for a particular ecosystem in (insert place here)"
Yeah, and I'm going to be really unreasonable about this. Fuck scorpions.
I have said the same, but only because the damn things are so difficult to find. I've never seen a scorpion in the wild, so I've spent my last two Mediterranean vacations roaming the gardens and barns at night with a flashlight, turning over rocks etc, but have yet to find a single one. I did run into a lot of spiders that were far bigger, faster, and more aggressive than I'm comfortable with. My fellow vacationers (who for some reason declined to join me on these scorpion hunts) found it easy to keep track of my whereabouts, thanks to the manly screams I'd let out every time a massive spider popped out to defend its nest.
Next time I'm bringing a blacklight because I'm told that makes scorpions easier to see.
I'm going to be really unreasonable here and say "fuck scorpions."
"But Thawmus they're necessary for a particular ecosystem in (insert place here)"
Yeah, and I'm going to be really unreasonable about this. Fuck scorpions.
I have said the same, but only because the damn things are so difficult to find. I've never seen a scorpion in the wild, so I've spent my last two Mediterranean vacations roaming the gardens and barns at night with a flashlight, turning over rocks etc, but have yet to find a single one. I did run into a lot of spiders that were far bigger, faster, and more aggressive than I'm comfortable with. My fellow vacationers (who for some reason declined to join me on these scorpion hunts) found it easy to keep track of my whereabouts, thanks to the manly screams I'd let out every time a massive spider popped out to defend its nest.
Next time I'm bringing a blacklight because I'm told that makes scorpions easier to see.
Listen I don't want to tell you your business but hunting for mushrooms is much more fun, and while still potentially dangerous, has a delicious side benefit.
HacksawJ. Duggan Esq.Wrestler at LawRegistered Userregular
I remember we used to get crane flies in my parents' home every year, for years. Scores of those big fuckers would be in the house, on the ceiling, sitting and waiting for a good fuck or a fresh insect meal. And now, they're... gone. I never see them anymore. They're not in my parents' home, they're not in my condo, they're not... anywhere. The more I think about it, the more worried I become.
I remember we used to get crane flies in my parents' home every year, for years. Scores of those big fuckers would be in the house, on the ceiling, sitting and waiting for a good fuck or a fresh insect meal. And now, they're... gone. I never see them anymore. They're not in my parents' home, they're not in my condo, they're not... anywhere. The more I think about it, the more worried I become.
As far as I recall, this 80% species loss number is based on an absurdly dubious study by the wwf. These species aren't gone, they are just further north. In my garden I have just as many insects as ever, just some familiar ones are gone over the last decade and replaced with new ones. This isn't a good situation, but there are still plenty of insects. If we act hard on climate change, they will move south again.
I remember we used to get crane flies in my parents' home every year, for years. Scores of those big fuckers would be in the house, on the ceiling, sitting and waiting for a good fuck or a fresh insect meal. And now, they're... gone. I never see them anymore. They're not in my parents' home, they're not in my condo, they're not... anywhere. The more I think about it, the more worried I become.
As far as I recall, this 80% species loss number is based on an absurdly dubious study by the wwf. These species aren't gone, they are just further north. In my garden I have just as many insects as ever, just some familiar ones are gone over the last decade and replaced with new ones. This isn't a good situation, but there are still plenty of insects. If we act hard on climate change, they will move south again.
I remember we used to get crane flies in my parents' home every year, for years. Scores of those big fuckers would be in the house, on the ceiling, sitting and waiting for a good fuck or a fresh insect meal. And now, they're... gone. I never see them anymore. They're not in my parents' home, they're not in my condo, they're not... anywhere. The more I think about it, the more worried I become.
As far as I recall, this 80% species loss number is based on an absurdly dubious study by the wwf. These species aren't gone, they are just further north. In my garden I have just as many insects as ever, just some familiar ones are gone over the last decade and replaced with new ones. This isn't a good situation, but there are still plenty of insects. If we act hard on climate change, they will move south again.
Yeah but just moving north isn't a solution for all insects.
Some are going to be wiped out because their food source and habitat are also specific, not just the average year round temperature.
RedTide#1907 on Battle.net
Come Overwatch with meeeee
Oh hey, my hometown.
She's not wrong, we used to have more Junebugs and Japanese beetles come out when I was growing up than the last time I visited in summer.
There's also way, way less forested area left undeveloped near houses. The surburban type sprawl continued to eat up all the un-developed land surrounding the older homes.
The area outside G'boro is still relativly rural, it would be interesting to see if there's still a population of the bugs out there.
Also wondering if maybe a little of it, since it is anecdotal, is that I spend %400 less time looking for bugs as an adult than I did as a kid. . .
Not every year has a cicada brood, and a few broods have gone extinct. There's only 13 surviving 17-year broods, and 3 13-year broods. A few years ago one of the really big broods that usually conjures an Exodus-worthy plague when they emerge was a huge fizzle, too. Also, aside from a couple of the really big broods, they're very regional, so if you've moved at all you just might not have a local brood anymore.
Cicadas might not be entirely our fault. There's evidence broods were dying out even before we started naming them in the 1800's, their life cycle leaves them vulnerable to fungus. It also leaves them extra vulnerable to climate change, though, so there's a chance they're just one of the species that's going to be doomed.
Oh hey, my hometown.
She's not wrong, we used to have more Junebugs and Japanese beetles come out when I was growing up than the last time I visited in summer.
There's also way, way less forested area left undeveloped near houses. The surburban type sprawl continued to eat up all the un-developed land surrounding the older homes.
The area outside G'boro is still relativly rural, it would be interesting to see if there's still a population of the bugs out there.
Also wondering if maybe a little of it, since it is anecdotal, is that I spend %400 less time looking for bugs as an adult than I did as a kid. . .
Lightning bugs are also a rare site in North Carolina these days. Growing up, I remember thousands of them around all summer. Now, there are a couple of communities where they can still be found, but otherwise it is a very rare sighting.
Money just isn’t the appropriate frame when we’re talking about the planet. Climate change is a special problem that traditional economic analyses aren’t built to handle. The idea of eternal economic growth is fundamentally flawed on a finite planet, and there is substantial evidence that these economic costs will be borne disproportionately by lower-income countries. There’s no dollar figure that anyone can attach to a civilization’s collapse.
In addition to the widely covered economic risks, there were scads of human-centered impacts listed in Friday’s report: Unchecked climate change will displace hundreds of millions of people in the next 30 years, swamping coastal cities, drying up farmland around the world, burning cities to the ground, and kickstarting a public health crisis inflicting everything from infectious disease outbreaks to suffocating air pollution to worsening mental health.
This process is already in motion. Those of us who talk about climate change for a living should be focusing our dialogue on the immediate danger of climate change in human terms, not making it even more abstract and distant than it already seemingly is.
If an asteroid was going to hit the Earth in 2030, we wouldn’t be justifying the cost of the space mission to blast it out of the sky. We’d be repurposing factories, inventing entire new industries, and steering the global economy toward solving the problem as quickly and as effectively as we can — no matter the cost. Climate change is that looming asteroid, except what we’re doing right now is basically ignoring it, and in the process actually making the problem much, much worse and much harder to solve.
The problem is, climate change isn't a countdown until everyone including the rich die. All that is known/cared about is that climate change ain't killing them today and probably isn't tomorrow, so it's never today's problem.
If the hypothetical asteroid above was only going to kill the poor people who were unable to move out of its path, we wouldn't be re-purposing shit.
That's what the rich and powerful always think. Then a mob drags them out of their fortress after the guards join them at the gate.
Twist ending, they're robot guards that massacre us all.
I remember linking an article about a huge dying of insects in the relatively untouched Peurto Rico rain forest, so there are a bunch of food webs that are going to get devastated by climate change.
Huh now that I think about it if anything I've been seeing/getting more bugs up here in Canada, certainly not less. Wonder if it's due to that whole migrating north thing
On the subject of bugs we don't see anymore: Anyone else live in an area that used to have those little powdery white moths that keep hopping around in front of your lawn mower but never actually getting out of the way? I've barely seen them at all the last couple years, and of all the bugs my son has started catching, he's never shown me one of those, even though when I was little around here they were the easiest and most common thing to catch.
I know some of you just really love the environment and all creatures, and I know they are part of food chains and all but uh.... as someone allergic to mosquito's, and desperately terrified of many other bugs.... despite the understand of those food chains and all.... in my heart of hearts, .... I'm so sorry that a part of me went "yee!"
Not that it matters much for me personally. Most mosquito's could die in the world and they would still find and feast on me, causing huge welts . sigh.
Hell, they'd probably evolve to look like roaches just to eat me AND terrify me. Specifically me. Out of spite. ... buggy bastards.
L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
Sorry to "ackshually" anything, but all humans are allergic to mosquitos. That's why, when they bite, you get a bump around the affected area. It's because we're genuinely allergic to their saliva. Only other species in the "ape" family (chimpanzees, gorillas, etc.) have it. Deer, for instance, are not allergic to mosquitos, so they are not affected in the least by the saliva. The other diseases that mosquitos carry with them, however....
Sorry to "ackshually" anything, but all humans are allergic to mosquitos. That's why, when they bite, you get a bump around the affected area. It's because we're genuinely allergic to their saliva. Only other species in the "ape" family (chimpanzees, gorillas, etc.) have it. Deer, for instance, are not allergic to mosquitos, so they are not affected in the least by the saliva. The other diseases that mosquitos carry with them, however....
Yeah, I'm aware , I just didn't felt like typing, "I'm more allergic and attractive to mosquitoes than most other people but slightly less allergic than people who go into Anaphylactic shock from mosquito bites."
Felt a little wordy ya know?
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
I understand.
I didn't know where you were coming from.
And as someone who is also hyper-attractive to mosquitos, I feel your pain.
I know they serve a purpose, but the ones that bite are annoying. Or were, I guess.
I'm going to be really unreasonable here and say "fuck scorpions."
"But Thawmus they're necessary for a particular ecosystem in (insert place here)"
Yeah, and I'm going to be really unreasonable about this. Fuck scorpions.
I have said the same, but only because the damn things are so difficult to find. I've never seen a scorpion in the wild, so I've spent my last two Mediterranean vacations roaming the gardens and barns at night with a flashlight, turning over rocks etc, but have yet to find a single one. I did run into a lot of spiders that were far bigger, faster, and more aggressive than I'm comfortable with. My fellow vacationers (who for some reason declined to join me on these scorpion hunts) found it easy to keep track of my whereabouts, thanks to the manly screams I'd let out every time a massive spider popped out to defend its nest.
Next time I'm bringing a blacklight because I'm told that makes scorpions easier to see.
David Roberts, who writes about climate policy for Vox, with a thread about how it looks like Manchin might end up the ranking Senate Dem on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee and what that means for climate change policy if the Dems take the Senate back.
David Roberts, who writes about climate policy for Vox, with a thread about how it looks like Manchin might end up the ranking Senate Dem on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee and what that means for climate change policy if the Dems take the Senate back.
David Roberts, who writes about climate policy for Vox, with a thread about how it looks like Manchin might end up the ranking Senate Dem on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee and what that means for climate change policy if the Dems take the Senate back.
I'm going to be really unreasonable here and say "fuck scorpions."
"But Thawmus they're necessary for a particular ecosystem in (insert place here)"
Yeah, and I'm going to be really unreasonable about this. Fuck scorpions.
I have said the same, but only because the damn things are so difficult to find. I've never seen a scorpion in the wild, so I've spent my last two Mediterranean vacations roaming the gardens and barns at night with a flashlight, turning over rocks etc, but have yet to find a single one. I did run into a lot of spiders that were far bigger, faster, and more aggressive than I'm comfortable with. My fellow vacationers (who for some reason declined to join me on these scorpion hunts) found it easy to keep track of my whereabouts, thanks to the manly screams I'd let out every time a massive spider popped out to defend its nest.
Next time I'm bringing a blacklight because I'm told that makes scorpions easier to see.
This is how natural selection works, right?
"scorpions better able to hide from vacationers on Malta" is a hell of a specific adaptation
I'm going to be really unreasonable here and say "fuck scorpions."
"But Thawmus they're necessary for a particular ecosystem in (insert place here)"
Yeah, and I'm going to be really unreasonable about this. Fuck scorpions.
I have said the same, but only because the damn things are so difficult to find. I've never seen a scorpion in the wild, so I've spent my last two Mediterranean vacations roaming the gardens and barns at night with a flashlight, turning over rocks etc, but have yet to find a single one. I did run into a lot of spiders that were far bigger, faster, and more aggressive than I'm comfortable with. My fellow vacationers (who for some reason declined to join me on these scorpion hunts) found it easy to keep track of my whereabouts, thanks to the manly screams I'd let out every time a massive spider popped out to defend its nest.
Next time I'm bringing a blacklight because I'm told that makes scorpions easier to see.
This is how natural selection works, right?
"scorpions better able to hide from vacationers on Malta" is a hell of a specific adaptation
I think the implication was that by doing this I'm in danger of removing myself from the gene pool.
But fear not, I'm a biologist, I wear gloves and boots when rummaging through the bushes at night. I also tried to get a glimpse of the nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) in Croatia, but couldn't find a single one of those either, even though our landlord said those snakes are everywhere. Their bite is potentially lethal, so there I took more precautions to stay safe.
David Roberts, who writes about climate policy for Vox, with a thread about how it looks like Manchin might end up the ranking Senate Dem on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee and what that means for climate change policy if the Dems take the Senate back.
They can just opt not to appoint the most senior member. It's not law, just typical policy.
Senate is all about tradition unfortunately. Still, this is a potential problem for 2020, not 2018.
Adam Schiff was on Pod Save America a week or two back, talking about how him getting onto (head of?) the House Intelligence Committee went against that standard.
Seniority means plenty, but it's not an absolute, at least from what he was saying on The Pod.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
David Roberts, who writes about climate policy for Vox, with a thread about how it looks like Manchin might end up the ranking Senate Dem on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee and what that means for climate change policy if the Dems take the Senate back.
Posts
But we need bugs cause that’s going to be a prime source of protein...
The article talks about a researcher who found the same lack of insects in a part of a forest that is still untouched by those.
I also pay to have a pest control company spray my house 4x a year. I don't know why the dots never connected in my mind before now. I don't know what effect it has, how much it gets into the ground and groundwater.
I don't use fertilizers because of the effect it has on the environment. I'll definitely have to reconsider the quad-annual pesticides my house is sprayed with.
I don’t usually do this but uhh, maybe we’re better off
You said it but we were all thinking it
Come Overwatch with meeeee
It's not crazy. I remember coming home from my grandparent's house in central California at night (two and a half hours or so of drive time) and seeing the windshield become an absolute mess, twenty or so years ago. The last time I drove at night in that part of the country I don't think I even turned on the wipers once.
they're basically a camel spider, kinda, only they're about... an inch long? maybe a bit more? i saw a few big'uns but never like internet meme huge. they're a ferocious looking but mostly harmless decapod
Largest North American species is, I think, about 3". The are known to charge and chase humans and while not venomous, their bite is nasty and dirty almost guaranteed to become badly infected.
"But Thawmus they're necessary for a particular ecosystem in (insert place here)"
Yeah, and I'm going to be really unreasonable about this. Fuck scorpions.
I know the sting isn’t really all that bad and they rarely sting anyway, but the idea of keeping this giant scorpion with a big fuck all stinger on its back just seems like a bad idea.
I have said the same, but only because the damn things are so difficult to find. I've never seen a scorpion in the wild, so I've spent my last two Mediterranean vacations roaming the gardens and barns at night with a flashlight, turning over rocks etc, but have yet to find a single one. I did run into a lot of spiders that were far bigger, faster, and more aggressive than I'm comfortable with. My fellow vacationers (who for some reason declined to join me on these scorpion hunts) found it easy to keep track of my whereabouts, thanks to the manly screams I'd let out every time a massive spider popped out to defend its nest.
Next time I'm bringing a blacklight because I'm told that makes scorpions easier to see.
Listen I don't want to tell you your business but hunting for mushrooms is much more fun, and while still potentially dangerous, has a delicious side benefit.
As far as I recall, this 80% species loss number is based on an absurdly dubious study by the wwf. These species aren't gone, they are just further north. In my garden I have just as many insects as ever, just some familiar ones are gone over the last decade and replaced with new ones. This isn't a good situation, but there are still plenty of insects. If we act hard on climate change, they will move south again.
No. The insect species numbers come from other research.
Yeah but just moving north isn't a solution for all insects.
Some are going to be wiped out because their food source and habitat are also specific, not just the average year round temperature.
Come Overwatch with meeeee
Oh hey, my hometown.
She's not wrong, we used to have more Junebugs and Japanese beetles come out when I was growing up than the last time I visited in summer.
There's also way, way less forested area left undeveloped near houses. The surburban type sprawl continued to eat up all the un-developed land surrounding the older homes.
The area outside G'boro is still relativly rural, it would be interesting to see if there's still a population of the bugs out there.
Also wondering if maybe a little of it, since it is anecdotal, is that I spend %400 less time looking for bugs as an adult than I did as a kid. . .
Cicadas might not be entirely our fault. There's evidence broods were dying out even before we started naming them in the 1800's, their life cycle leaves them vulnerable to fungus. It also leaves them extra vulnerable to climate change, though, so there's a chance they're just one of the species that's going to be doomed.
Lightning bugs are also a rare site in North Carolina these days. Growing up, I remember thousands of them around all summer. Now, there are a couple of communities where they can still be found, but otherwise it is a very rare sighting.
That's what the rich and powerful always think. Then a mob drags them out of their fortress after the guards join them at the gate.
I remember linking an article about a huge dying of insects in the relatively untouched Peurto Rico rain forest, so there are a bunch of food webs that are going to get devastated by climate change.
Not that it matters much for me personally. Most mosquito's could die in the world and they would still find and feast on me, causing huge welts . sigh.
Hell, they'd probably evolve to look like roaches just to eat me AND terrify me. Specifically me. Out of spite. ... buggy bastards.
Yeah, I'm aware , I just didn't felt like typing, "I'm more allergic and attractive to mosquitoes than most other people but slightly less allergic than people who go into Anaphylactic shock from mosquito bites."
Felt a little wordy ya know?
I didn't know where you were coming from.
And as someone who is also hyper-attractive to mosquitos, I feel your pain.
I know they serve a purpose, but the ones that bite are annoying. Or were, I guess.
This is how natural selection works, right?
They can just opt not to appoint the most senior member. It's not law, just typical policy.
Senate is all about tradition unfortunately. Still, this is a potential problem for 2020, not 2018.
"scorpions better able to hide from vacationers on Malta" is a hell of a specific adaptation
I think the implication was that by doing this I'm in danger of removing myself from the gene pool.
But fear not, I'm a biologist, I wear gloves and boots when rummaging through the bushes at night. I also tried to get a glimpse of the nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) in Croatia, but couldn't find a single one of those either, even though our landlord said those snakes are everywhere. Their bite is potentially lethal, so there I took more precautions to stay safe.
Adam Schiff was on Pod Save America a week or two back, talking about how him getting onto (head of?) the House Intelligence Committee went against that standard.
Seniority means plenty, but it's not an absolute, at least from what he was saying on The Pod.
I think the past three years have taught us not to count on tradition.