Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse

Entomologist Goulson (The Garden Jungle) decries “alarming declines” in world insect populations in this perhaps too impassioned treatise. A drastic drop in bug life is catastrophic for biodiversity and “all terrestrial and freshwater food chains,” Goulson warns, and the reasons come down to climate change, habitat loss, overuse of pesticides, and the spread of invasive diseases. Touting insects as “the rivets that keep the ecosystem functioning,” the author envisions an “impoverished and degraded” bugless Earth and points out problems already popping up in China, Bengal, and Brazil, where farmers must hand-pollinate their crops because of a bee shortage. Insects service 87% of flora, he writes, and they provide food to nearly 80% of humans . Though Goulson makes a strong case, his haughty tone (“I am not... religious, but if you are, consider this; Do you really think God created wonderful diversity... so that we could exterminate it?”) and vague conjecturing (“I would guess that more than 90 percent of the world’s population do not think at all about environmental issues”) detract from his message’s urgency. Goulson’s enthusiasm for the insect world is evident, but it also unfortunately drowns out the science. (Sept.)