When I was a kid, I used to run around and capture dragonflies especially in the summer when there would be swarms of them flying about. At that time, they were so plentiful that you could chase after them swinging with a stick and you're bound to knock one down. We preferred catching the mid-sized green ones and in catching them by hand, two "methods" were usually employed; one was the swinging grab technique which was very inaccurate and caused you to squish the poor bug. The other was the grab the tail/wings from behind approach which I preferred because chances of catching one was high and less damaging to the insect. It was a more refined move that required patience, finesse and stalking ability though. Good memories.
Past forward to my college years in the 90's. It seemed to be that they became less and less as the years and seasons passed. Now I DARE ask you, have you seen them in swarms lately? In fact when was the last time you saw one?
I then read something disturbingly similar to another insect - the bee or bubuyog to us locals. Recently, scientists are studying reports from around the world that entire bee populations are actually disappearing and they don't know why! There are a lot of theories trying to explain this phenomenon but so far none have been conclusive. They call it Colony Collapse Disorder.
If you've seen the recent Shyamalan film The Happening, at the beginning there is a statement there "attributed to Albert Einstein" (unverified though) that says: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left".
The links below provide more info -
http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
Here's a site that proposes to have identified the problem. Personally, I'm skeptical but it does merit further looking into -
http://viewzone.com/lostbees.bayer.html
If we stop to consider though and remember the tired old truth which we take for granted that everything in this world is connected, that there is indeed a balance to the existence of all creatures great and small, it shouldn't really surprise us. No bees, no pollination. No pollination, no plants. No plants? Well it gets really scary from here with the domino effect - the herbivore animals suffer and dwindle and thus affecting the larger animals that feed on them, this affects their patterns of grazing/living and migration. This puts pressure and unnecessary competition on the populations of species. The conversion of O2 and CO2 is affected, the excess CO2 is trapped in the atmosphere causing the earth's climate to heat up. . . well, you get the idea. . .
I may sound like an eco-alarmist but what I am sure of is that WE (man) have had a hand in this somehow. We've forgotten that WE are not the owners or masters of the earth to do with it for our own ends. WE are just part of it. And yes, I believe in the old saying that "we are only borrowing it from our children".
Past forward to my college years in the 90's. It seemed to be that they became less and less as the years and seasons passed. Now I DARE ask you, have you seen them in swarms lately? In fact when was the last time you saw one?
I then read something disturbingly similar to another insect - the bee or bubuyog to us locals. Recently, scientists are studying reports from around the world that entire bee populations are actually disappearing and they don't know why! There are a lot of theories trying to explain this phenomenon but so far none have been conclusive. They call it Colony Collapse Disorder.
If you've seen the recent Shyamalan film The Happening, at the beginning there is a statement there "attributed to Albert Einstein" (unverified though) that says: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left".
The links below provide more info -
http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
Here's a site that proposes to have identified the problem. Personally, I'm skeptical but it does merit further looking into -
http://viewzone.com/lostbees.bayer.html
If we stop to consider though and remember the tired old truth which we take for granted that everything in this world is connected, that there is indeed a balance to the existence of all creatures great and small, it shouldn't really surprise us. No bees, no pollination. No pollination, no plants. No plants? Well it gets really scary from here with the domino effect - the herbivore animals suffer and dwindle and thus affecting the larger animals that feed on them, this affects their patterns of grazing/living and migration. This puts pressure and unnecessary competition on the populations of species. The conversion of O2 and CO2 is affected, the excess CO2 is trapped in the atmosphere causing the earth's climate to heat up. . . well, you get the idea. . .
I may sound like an eco-alarmist but what I am sure of is that WE (man) have had a hand in this somehow. We've forgotten that WE are not the owners or masters of the earth to do with it for our own ends. WE are just part of it. And yes, I believe in the old saying that "we are only borrowing it from our children".
Let's all help in being GREEN!
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