Great simplification pulsing lines

Ep 90  |  Nick Haddad

Nick Haddad: “Insects – A Silent Extinction”

Check out this podcast

TGS90 Nick Haddad The Great Simplification

Show Summary

On this episode, Nate is joined by Professor Nick Haddad, a conservation scientist with a focus on butterflies and other insects. Nick unpacks what decades of research have indicated about the declining state of insect populations, which act as the foundation of critical ecosystem functions. The overlooked degradation of butterflies, beetles, bees, ants, ladybugs, and countless other species have huge ripple effects across our local and global ecological functions – from a loss of bird populations to a reduced ability to grow food. Why are we not more concerned about the health and vitality of these critical organisms? Can humans – or life as we know it – survive without these little creatures? What can we do as individuals, businesses, and governments to help insects rebound as quickly as possible, and in turn strengthen the health of everything else.

About Nick Haddad

Professor Nick Haddad is co-lead of the Long Term Ecological Research site at Kellogg Biological Station at Michigan State University. He leads decades-long, landscape-scale experiments that bring scientific principles to conservation actions. He studies how landscape diversity, including prairie strips through croplands, affect biodiversity, especially of plants and insects, and of ecosystem services including pollination, biocontrol, and decomposition. For three decades he has led the world’s largest experiment testing the role of landscape corridors in increasing dispersal of most plant and animal species, and increasing plant diversity. He has conducted long-term restoration experiments to guide conservation of rare butterflies in the face of climate and land use change. Nick brings together ideas in science and management through ConservationCorridor.org.

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

00:21 – Nick Haddad Works + Info, The Last Butterflies: A Scientist’s Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature

01:58 – 20% of the world’s freshwater is in the Great Lakes

02:30 – Aquatic Insects

04:01 – Blue Crabs

08:41 – St Francis Satyr

10:45 – Importance of natural wildfires to ecosystems

11:09 – Difference between natural disturbance and human-caused wildfires

13:18 – Wildlife in Chernobyl

13:38 – Military areas are often wildlife refuges

14:17 – 20,000 species of butterflies

14:35 – 200,000 moth species

14:35 – Difference between butterfly and moth species

15:25 – Luna Moths

16:10 – Critically endangered butterflies in the US and the world

18:03 – Citizen Science

19:15 – Humans and insects in evolution

19:20 – Modular mind

19:36 – Cats and cucumbers

20:15 – Butterfly caterpillars mimicking snakes

20:22 – Spicebush Swallowtail

21:40 – 5.5 million insect species

25:18 – Wolf Spider

26:10 – Fear of butterflies

27:07 – 1-2% loss of global insect biomass per year

29:57 – Butterflies in Ohio are declining 2% per year

31:07 – Monarchs are declining

33:04 – Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts

33:36 – More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas

37:33 – Butterflies pollinate 10% of cotton, 60 million dollars per year in Texas alone

38:40 – Birds in the US decline at 2% per year

39:19 – A strong factor of young bird survival is abundance of insects

40:38 – Insects are the foundation of life as we know it on Earth

41:41 – Insects and soil health

41:59 – Complexity of plants and ant species video

43:39 – Decline of bugs on car windshield

44:31 – Daniel Pauly + TGS Episode, Shifting Baselines

46:20 – Native prairie corridors 

47:55 – Primary drivers of insect loss

49:14 – Neonicotinoids and insect loss

52:36 – Soil-based insects

55:47 – We overapply pesticides

56:23 – Neonicotinoids banned in Europe

59:10 – If left alone, fish populations can swiftly recover

1:00:05 – E.O. Wilson, Half Earth

1:01:06 – 30 by 30

1:01:55 – Development of targeted pesticides

1:04:59 – Rise of pollinator gardens

1:08:20 – Monarchs can fly almost 100 miles in 1 day

1:11:03 – Butterfly Survey Organizations

1:12:47 – Endangered Species Act

1:15:10 – IUCN Red List global extinction criteria

1:16:19 – National Nature Assessment

1:24:25 – Underproductive farm acres in the US

More: The collapse of insects

Download transcript
Back to episodes
Algorithmic CancerWith Connor LeahyThe Great SimplificationEp 184 | Connor Leahy

Recently, the risks about Artificial Intelligence and the need for ‘alignment’ have been flooding our cultural discourse – with Artificial Super Intelligence acting as both the most promising goal and most pressing threat. But amid the moral debate, there’s been surprisingly little attention paid to a basic question: do we even have the technical capability to guide where any of this is headed? And if not, should we slow the pace of innovation until we better understand how these complex systems actually work?

Watch nowJun 25, 2025
Rod SchoonoverThe National Security Risks We’re Not Prepared ForWith Rod SchoonoverThe Great SimplificationEp 183 | Rod Schoonover

National security concerns have been the invisible hand guiding governance throughout recorded history. In the 20th century, it was defined by a country versus country dynamic: whichever nation was the strongest and most strategic was also the safest. But today, our biggest national security threats don’t come from opposing nations – they are “actorless threats” that emerge from the breakdown of the complex systems we all depend on – from the stability of our planetary systems to our intricately complex and fragile global supply chains. In this unprecedented landscape, what is required of us in order to keep our citizens safe?

Watch nowJun 18, 2025
Movie Re-ReleaseThe Systems Science Behind Our Global CrisesWith Nate HagensThe Great SimplificationEp 182 | Nate Hagens

Three years ago, my team and I created a 30-minute movie that provides a comprehensive systems analysis of the human predicament—spanning energy, economics, ecology, and behavioral psychology. This beautifully animated film aims to help viewers understand the interconnected crises defining our era.

Watch nowJun 13, 2025

Subscribe to our Substack

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future (ISEOF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, founded in 2008, that conducts research and educates the public about energy issues and their impact on society.

Support our work
Get in touch
x