Insects and bugs are disappearing at an alarming rate every day. Do you remember the last time you saw a ladybug? I don’t. I have fond childhood memories, where I ran around and chased them, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a lady bug—especially not a lot of them at once! They used to swarm when I was a child, competing with the local Asian lady beetles, creating a myriad of reds and oranges… I used to find their larvae, these spiked, wriggling, orange and black things that resembled the punks I looked up to as I grew up. Every other kid thought they were ugly, but I knew they just needed to grow up a little more; I knew that then they’d become something beautiful, something that everyone appreciated.

They’re like butterflies, in that way. Having an ugly duckling like existences, where they’re considered a gross menace until, suddenly, they’re beautiful and, therefore, valuable. What happens when that underappreciated ugly duckling goes away for good?

Ecological destruction—in the cases of both ladybugs and butterflies.

Ladybugs do much more for our environment than most think. One of the things they’re most popular for is eating aphids, a common garden pest. Aside from attracting other pest insects and black sooty mold, aphids can be highly destructive to plants. Having ladybugs around helps to equalize the playing field and keep your gardens safe.

But it’s more than just that, and it’s more than just the ladybug. Hundreds of bug species are seeing sharp declines, and there’s numerous reasons for it: pesticide use, overuse of nitrogen fertilizer, and climate change[1], just to name a few.

It’s a multifaceted issue, and one most people can see in day-to-day life. The windshield effect is one of them. Over the years, as people drove cars, they hit bugs on the road and saw them splatter on their windshields in the hundreds. As time went on, though, less and less bugs have been splattering on their windshields. In fact, a study showed that people, on average, hit one bug per five miles.[2] When is the last time you remember a dead bug on your car, especially in comparison to the summers an odd ten–fifteen years ago where your car would get crusted with them on the highway? Anecdotal as it may be, it’s hard to deny when you see it for yourself.

Multiple studies have shown that insect populations have decreased around 45% in the past 40 years—that’s a lot for something that pollinates 75% of global crops, a service valued at USD$600 billion.[3] And, the worst part is that it’s entirely preventable! But not in a way you may think.

While it may be tempting to wonder what you can do to protect the native insects in your area—and, don’t worry, we will go over that—the reality is that most of the change needs to happen on a large-scale governmental or societal level. This means that an individual can’t do much to help on a wide enough scale to make the kind of rapid change necessary to repair the damage that’s been done.

This is largely in part due to the fact that the biggest impact to insect populations is intensive agriculture, which has caused over 40% of insect species to become threatened with extinction.[4] Unfortunately, agriculture will continue in this manner.

When is the last time you remember seeing a firefly? Was it in your childhood? Because fireflies are rapidly disappearing, too, and little conservation is done for them. One study showed that up to 14% of observed species may be at risk, while one in three was in direct risk of extinction.[4]

So, what can you do to help? Vote for green policies in office, for starters. Look up your local representatives and see their opinions on climate change, and vote appropriately according to your values. Your vote matters, and if better people get into positions of power, the easier it’ll be to have corporations be held accountable for the mass deforestation, mass agriculture, and aggressive pesticide uses that plague our little friends. The insects have been here far longer than we have, and it’s time we appreciate something that makes up the majority of the animal kingdom.

As for smaller things, you could use seed bombs.[5] Unlike the name suggests, these aren’t dangerous at all; seed bombs are balls made with clay, some soil, and native flower and grass seeds. They get pressed into a ball and these bombs can be thrown into empty lots—or anywhere you think could use some foliage—to sprout into areas more suitable for native pollinators and other insects.

You could also build bee hotels. A vast majority of bee species are some variation of solitary bee, with roughly 19,000 species of bee being solitary in some manner.[6] To aid them, you can take any large piece of wood you have and create a ‘hotel’ for them to stay in. To do this, simply drill some medium-sized holes into the wood and place it in a safe area away from the elements. If you’d like, you could even give it a roof! Solitary bees may find this structure and nest within it.

You’re more likely to have bee visitors if you have an abundance of native flowers around their hotel. You can also aid bees by purchasing natural local honey and supporting your local beekeepers, and simply planting wildflowers whenever and wherever you can. Beekeepers are an important part of our ecosystem, too, and they help to ensure that your local bee population is stable and provided for. Remember, honeybees are not endangered[7], but your local bees may be! There are thousands of bee species, and honeybees are considered livestock; honeybees being managed by humans ensures their ability to thrive.

Circling back, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a ladybug, caterpillar, or firefly. I urge you to think: how often do you see these important parts of our ecosystem now compared to, say, 2010? Have you, personally, seen the same amount of insects and bugs that you did as a child? Please think about the answer you come to, and vote accordingly.

Help support insect conservation and find ways to incorporate native flowers into your life. The insects around you will love you for it! Here are some handy options to look into if you’d like to learn further:

• Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
• Buglife Conservation
• Learn more about habitat conservation
• United States native plant list

If you’d like to read more studies on related topics

• The Collapse of Insects by Julia Janicki, Gloria Dickie, Simon Scarr and Jitesh Chowdhury
• Unveiling the Silent Crisis by Caitlin Rafters
• The Insect Crisis by Oliver Milman

Thanks for reading my thinkpiece. Let me know what you think!

Click for References

1. https://e360.yale.edu/features/insect_numbers_declining_why_it_matters
2. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/car-splatometer-test-shows-bugs-2421336#
3. https://entomology.ucr.edu/news/2023/07/13/researchers-study-global-decline-insect-populations
4. https://xerces.org/endangered-species/fireflies
5. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_ball
6. https://www.buddhabeeapiary.com/blog/the-secret-lives-of-solitary-bees
7. https://www.honeybeesuite.com/honey-bees-are-not-endangered/