by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture Consultant, Designer and Educator

Bug extinction is one of the most extensive extinctions on the planet. It’s scary because you don’t notice it until it’s too late (Worrall, 2017). According to a recent study (ScienceDirect, 2019), over 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction. Having in mind, that most of our food is insect dependent, this is an alarming and very worrying prognosis.

“If insects were to disappear, the world would fall apart — there’s no two ways about it,” said Goggy Davidowitz, a professor in the departments of entomology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. That means that most of us would starve to death and the world would fall apart when the insects disappear. In addition, flowering plants indirectly put food in our bellies by making up the diets of the animals we eat, from cows to chickens and even most freshwater fish. (livescience, 2015).

There are a few reasons for insects decline with one of them being the use of pesticides. While spraying plants in the garden to protect them from the bugs you don’t want, many other insects, birds, and other animals like frogs or lizards may be killed either directly or indirectly by feeding on the poisoned insects or drinking contaminated water. Apart from that, insecticides and pesticides are not only dangerous to the environment, but they are also hazardous to a person’s health.