We’re undoubtedly in the midst of another mass extinction, caused by human activity. Here’s another one that will freak you out:

When I was a kid, there used to be hundreds of fireflies in my backyard in the summer. Now, I get excited to see even two or three.

I blame the anti-mosquito pesticide services half my neighbors seem to hire.

Not quite correct. The 2020 image should have a car completely covered in a dust of green pollen because city planners only planted male trees for decades because female trees would produce fruit or seed and be a “nuisance” and/or create trash/animal bait etc…

But if they only planted female trees, they would never get fertilized, so they wouldn’t produce fruit anyway… Or pollen.

Worst case scenario, they would produce fruit, and cities would still smell bad and have rodent problems. But without the allergies.

200,050: a giant cockroach at the wheel.

I’m 51, I spent the 90’s in Louisiana, and since my wife doesn’t fly, we have driven across the USA more times than we can count. In the 90’s, if you didn’t have a bug screen on your grill, the LoveBugs would clog your radiator and you would over heat. You also needed the windshield scrib and squeegee to scrub off the bug splatter every time you filled up. Now, you don’t need either of them.

This has bothered me for years. It’s a really strange thing to be telling younger relatives about how you legitimately could not drive any substantial distance without windshield cleaner at certain times of year. I remember them being plastered across the front edge of the hood and against the radiator after a long trip.

It’s one of the most visibly different things about the world today, IMO, and it’s a little eerie.

I wonder if the insects have just learned to avoid highways, is there any data to indicate a shift in behavior like that? I couldn’t find anything