Sometimes You're The Bug
Sometimes you're the windshield
“Good sense, innocence, cripplin' mankind.
Dead kings, many things I can't define.
Occasions, persuasions clutter your mind
Incense and peppermints, the color of time."
There is a phenomenon that has been happening for some time now. With over 2,300 klicks driven over the last 3 weeks, it has hit home with me.
Death on the highway was missing.
I am not talking about roadkill because the number of upside-down wombats and roos I saw were plentiful.
And let’s not talk about the human carnage on the road, that seems to be on the increase in Australia. Distraction, speed, and decrease in RBT checkpoints all add up on this island home.
The windshield phenomenon (or windscreen phenomenon) is the observation that fewer dead insects have accumulated on the windshields and front bumpers of people's cars since the early 2000s. It has been attributed to a global decline in insect populations caused by human activity.
Is it the fact that there are just more and more humans driving?
Someone looked at the design of cars and maybe it was that they were more aerodynamically designed to ‘push’ bugs away from the windscreen. That theory has been debunked and I am not a scientist, so will not go into that.
Or maybe us 2 legged folks are using pesticides too much.
80% of the animal population are insects and with climate change and habitat destruction, their numbers are decreasing. Insects are pollinators, they remove wastes, they control the pests in the insect world and they provide nutrition for wildlife.
We do not even know how many insects have yet to be discovered and how they impact our planet and livelihood. We wipe them out in many ways.
Lawns are like a desert for insects. Think about planting natives and the like in your gardens and around your home so you can keep their environment and our planet in balance.
Bugs are cool. Remember Bugs Life? Think about your bugs like these fun-filled characters before you slam your hand or a book on them.
Except for mosquitos, I don’t like them and they cause more death and destruction on this beautiful planet we live on than any other animal. Birds may eat them but we can give the birds some feed to protect the human population from malaria, dengue etc.
Mossies love me. If I go out during peak time, I can get bit 20 times in minutes or less.
Sorry, mossies. I do not think there is a case for protecting you in large numbers.
Simply, this is just another reflection of what we humans have done to our environment.
All these injuries add up.
How much time do we have?
It’s getting warmer.
We are getting closer to something. Let’s hope it is not some big-ass zombie virus coming out of the melting permafrost.
Look out the window. The weather has changed.
Can you feel it?
Our planet needs our love and respect. Always.
Don’t like insects?
Check out this worm story….
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-14/spawning-sea-worms-swarm-fishers-boat/103314834
