Insects: Who Cares?

JONAS SALK
“If all insects disappeared, all life on earth would perish.
If all humans disappeared, all life on earth would flourish.”
Insects.
by TILL EBERLI
Who Cares?

Beauty.

when all the
colors
on our planet
are gone
Since 1990, half of all
butterfly species have
disappeared from Europe.
80% of butterfly
species are on the
endangered list. The
reasons are diverse:
climate change, forest
fires, and intensive
farming.
Goodbye.

and the
world
is
on the
Why care?
It doesn’t end with the
butterflies. They’re essential
for the food chain.
Bird populations are declining
by up to 20 percent
in many places because
insects are their primary
food. Plants are no longer
pollinated and thus their
natural development is
inhibited. This also has a
direct impact on people
and agriculture. Without
pollinators, the supply of
domestic fruit and vegetables
is likely to be reduced
in the future.

will
we
realize
we
are
that
a
part
of it
?

Ordo
we
dr

ift
apart
too
far,

is like
burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.
”
untilit’s
too
late
to
cheat
the
gallows?

“
Destroying rainforest for economic gain

WE KEEP ON
POISONING
THE WORLD
AROUND US

”
The more we pour the big machines,
the fuel, the pesticides, the herbicides,
the fertilizer and chemicals into farming,
the more we knock out the mechanism
that made it all work in the first place.
“
David R. Brower

PESTICIDES
PESTICIDES
PESTICIDES
PESTICIDES
PESTICIDES
PESTICIDES
PESTICIDES

Greed.

“
If the bee disappeared
off the face of the earth,
man would only have
four years left to live.
”
Maurice Maeterlinck

Consumption.
“The biggest enemy of the honey bee is beekeeping itself”. This claim
originates from the German bee researcher Torben Schiffer, who sees
the greatest threat not in the Varroa mite, but rather in the non-species-specific
husbandry and treatment by beekeepers. Although many
have started beekeeping for idealistic reasons and want to help the
bees, the training is purely designed to maximize profits. It is taught
to produce as much honey as possible, but not how a species-appropriate
attitude looks. Furthermore, the domestic honey bees are
threatening the native bees. The latter are actually the better polluniators.
80 percent of all flowering plants depend on pollination. If
the bees keep dying some day humans have to pollinate the flowers
themselves. Sounds horrible right? Actually that’s already a reality. In
Sichuan, a region in China, trees are being pollinated by hand because
the number of pollinator insects has declined drastically following excessive
pesticide use. By consuming honey, we encourage the mass
production of honey and thus the spread of diseased bees, which in
turn endanger wild bees. Again, this will lead to a chain reaction, which
will be felt by mankind.

ECAUSE
OTHING
S EVER
NOUGH

Destruction.
Due to massive construction, intensive agriculture and drainage of wetlands,
humans are destroying or fragmenting the natural habitats of insects. The
decline of species-rich dry and mountain meadows also leads to the loss of
valuable habitats. In the short span of just three decades, humans have decimated
insect populations by as much as 75 percent in various areas. 60 percent
of the insect species studied so far in Switzerland belong to the “red list”.
Insects are indispensable for soil fertility. They feed on leaf litter and ensure
sufficient aeration. The Insects convert organic material such as dead wood,
carcasses and feces into recyclable raw materials. Without insects, nature is
in danger of suffocating in its own waste.

destruction
destruction
destruction
destruction
destruction
destruction
destruction
destruction
destruction

”
We don’t give a damn
to the insects on our Earth,
but if we could find even a single
insect on Mars, the whole world
would cherish it like crazy!
“
Mehmet Murat ildan

howfar
do go
wanna we ?

“
If all humans disappeared today
,the earth would start improving
tomorrow. If all the ants disappeared
today ,the earth would
start dying tomorrow.
”
David Suzuki

Suicide.
It’s a fact that humans can’t survive without the insects.
Still, there is no global effort to stop this threatful
trend. We have to stop thinking about economic
growth and start support sustainable approaches
whether it’s in spacial planning, agricultural, educational
or economical policy. If we continue with the
destruction of habitats, the use of pesticides and the
mass production of honey, the ecological collapse
will be unstoppable. Once the insects decline, everything
else will as well. We are literally holding a gun
to our heads. Now the question is whether we want
to pull the trigger or do something for our planet.