Turns out ecologists and entomologists around the world have been warning about declining insect numbers for years. The culprits are climate change, habitat loss, light pollution, intensive farming, pesticide and fertiliser use. But it’s a struggle to get people to act.

It’s not just about bees and butterflies, the poster children of the pollinator world. Other, less photogenic pollinators such as hoverflies, moths, wasps, soldier beetles and earwigs are also showing declines. Several of these species don’t just pollinate. They also eat the pest insects that ruin crops.

Already, in the apple and pear orchards of south-west China, depleted populations of pollinators have forced farmers to hand-pollinate their trees, carrying pots of pollen and paintbrushes with which to individually pollinate every flower. If it sounds labour-intensive and time-consuming, that’s because it is.

#green #ukpolitics #uspol #ukpol #climate #environment #insects #agriculture #farming

https://archive.ph/tvnld#selection-1659.0-1668.2

Cash-strapped councils may seek to put disabled people in residential care to save costs, without regard for their wishes

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/disabled-rights-social-care-independent-living-budget-cuts-campaign/?utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=Mastodon

#ukpol #UKPolitics #disability

Care cuts threaten Disabled people’s right to independent living

Cash-strapped councils may seek to put us in residential care to save costs, without regard for our wishes

^{Mikey Erhardt (openDemocracy)}