Rebugging the Planet

July 19, 2021
Environmental campaigner Hird (Perfectly Safe to Eat?) outlines the alarming rate of decline among invertebrate populations and suggests a slew of actions average citizens can take to help protect them—a restorative movement she calls “rebugging.” Bee, butterfly, ant, and beetle populations are increasingly at risk, she writes—and rebugging, a version of rewilding specific to the critters, can be done “almost anywhere.” She starts with a primer on bug benefits—the creatures turn waste into fertilizer, pollinate plants, and control pests—then provides a multitude of ways people with no expertise can contribute to reversing the demise of bugs. People should first reframe their attitudes toward insects (to recognize their beauty and sentience), and can set up bug havens in their gardens, eat pesticide-free food, support local charities to grow bug-friendly plants, and talk to local garden centers about their efforts to promote chemical-free gardening. Most important, Hird writes, is lobbying politicians to effect protective legislation: “Keep bugging them. Always. For the bugs,” she pleads. Though serious entomologists may find this too lighthearted, lay readers will enjoy the compendium of ways to get involved. Brimming with tips and tools, this is sure to leave nature-lovers inspired.

August 1, 2021
Have you noticed fewer butterflies and bees flitting around your garden? Maybe fewer bugs splattering on your car windshield? While there are many reasons for people to dislike bugs, life on Earth would not continue without insects. They pollinate plants, nurture soil, and are a high-protein food source for birds, fish, and even an estimated two-billion people. Researcher and environmentalist Hird warns of a looming ""Insectageddon"" and a resulting ""depleted world"" wrought by the decline in the number of bugs and diversity of species. The causes are complex and involve deforestation, large-scale farming, pesticides, climate change, pollution, including noise, light, and wireless signals. She advocates for ""rewilding"" or recreating natural ecological systems and ""rebugging,"" reintroducing absent species to insecticide-free locales populated with native plants and letting nature do the rest. She describes how insects obtain food, communicate, defend themselves, and care for their young. Hird suggests changes in public policy and urges people to be more insect-like, that is, altruistic and less wasteful, in their daily life. That includes valuing bugs and their crucial role in sustaining earthly life.

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