Ep 189  |  Oliver Milman

The Silent Collapse: What the Disappearance of Insects Means for Humanity and the Earth

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The Great Simplification

Description

Insects, bugs, creepy-crawlies – these small animals are often considered a nuisance (or worse) by humanity, bringing up an ongoing desire to kill or mitigate these “pests” that plague our backyards, homes, and gardens. But we’re beginning to see that, despite our cultural misconceptions, insects are actually at the foundation of our biosphere, food supply, and nearly every life process on Earth. This makes recent reports of rapidly declining insect populations all the more troubling – but can we recognize the vital importance of insects and reverse the harm we’ve done before it’s too late?

On this episode, Nate is joined by environmental journalist, Oliver Milman, to discuss the alarming decline in insect populations in the past few decades and the far-reaching consequences this has for ecosystem stability, human well-being, and the overall health of the biosphere. From pollination and nutrient cycles to being the base of food webs for countless other animals, the loss of insects has cascading effects beyond what we could imagine. Oliver outlines the human activity that is driving the worst of these trends, including how accelerating global heating is amplifying these ecological pressures. 

How would a major collapse of insect populations immediately disrupt our everyday lives — and are we already starting to see those impacts? How do various sectors of human activity, from industrial agriculture to urban development, influence insect health? And ultimately, would supporting thriving insect populations require us to fundamentally rethink our relationship with the creatures with which we share the biosphere? 

About Oliver Milman

Oliver Milman is a British journalist and the environment correspondent at The Guardian. His first book, The Insect Crisis, is a devastating account of how a silent collapse in worldwide insect populations is threatening everything from the birds in our skies to the food on our plates. It was published by Atlantic in 2022 and shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing.

In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President

That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher

We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF

This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

00:00 – Oliver Milman, works, The Insect Crisis

02:54 – 2 billion insects for every human

03:37 – Scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions 

03:54 – The U.S. has lost 1/5 of butterfly population since 2000

04:09 – Losing 2% insect biomass per year, Total biomass

04:54 – Percentage of living things that are insects

05:09 – Diversity of flies, Assassin fly and how may species

06:29 – Ecosystem services of insects

07:44 – Neoteny and the evolutionary reasoning behind loving baby mammals

08:04 – Evolutionary relationship to insects, Human Interactions with insects

08:26 – Malaria carried by mosquitos is a leading cause of preventable death

08:34 – Purposes mosquitoes serve

09:14 – White rhino endangerment

09:34 – Pollinators effects on agriculture

10:44 – The Little Things that Run the World by E.O. Wilson

12:24 – 1/3 of food we eat depends on pollinators, the “Chocolate” midge, alfalfa pollinator

14:59 – Decline in insect-eating birds in Europe, in Canada, in the Amazon

16:24 – Insect population dynamics

17:04 – Method on counting insects

17:24 – Thomas Crowther, TGS Episode

18:24 – Climate change and malaria mosquitoes

18:40 – Cockroach resiliency

19:04 – 1 in 4 native bee species endangered in U.S., Monarch butterfly migration changes

20:49 – Honeybees being trucked around U.S. to pollinate fields 

23:24 – Planting native milkweed for monarchs, Benefits of planting native plants for insects

23:39 – UK’s and Germany’s responses to insect issues

24:19 – Pollinator populations decreasing and soils degrading, human populations increasing

24:54 – Global grassland degradation, Land use for agriculture, Climate change’s effect on the seasons 

25:59 – Light pollution effects on Fireflies and Moths

27:44 – Bees during the winter

31:24 – Neonicotinoids

32:04 – Germany insect population study, Puerto Rico insect population study

33:14 – Insects populations that are thriving: cockroaches, mosquitos, ticks

34:04 – Lone star tick can cause allergy to meat

35:04 – Second-, third-, nth order effects

35:44 – Crop yields dropping 

36:14 – Drones as pollinators, Black Mirror, How long bees have been around

37:13 – Harvard and a Dutch university building robotic bees

37:29 – Apple orchard drone pollination demo

42:54 – Being surrounded by undisturbed nature is good for us

47:14 – Rod Schoonover, TGS Episode

47:59 – U.S. artificially keeps up the honey bee populations

49:59 – California almond industry, Bee bandits

51:34 – Research on 5G effects on insects

52:19 – Germany agricultural practices to help insects

52:59 – Wild flower patches in Detroit, MI and the Netherlands

53:12 – New York City Green Roofs

53:54 – Higher diversity of certain insects in urban areas than in rural areas

54:44 – Leaving fisheries alone and fish populations recover

56:46 – EPA Seeks to Bring Back Twice-Banned Pesticide

57:34 – U.S. Policy addressing light pollution

57:47 – No Mow May

1:00:33 – Benefits of not raking leaves

1:02:04 – Evolutionary psychology of entomophobia (cats and cucumbers)

1:03:49 – Neurolinguistic programming therapy

1:04:39 – Shifting baselines

1:06:58 – Honeybees can understand 0 and addition/subtraction, can detect landmines, display altruistic behavior, can play “soccer”

1:08:04 – Cockroaches can live for some time without their head

1:08:29 – Dragonfly flight

1:08:49 – U.S. Military insect-inspired robots, Insect-inspired AI design

1:09:24 – Nick Haddad, TGS Episode

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