Considerable concern has been triggered by reports that the planet's insect species (on which most terrestrial ecosystems depend) are in rapid decline. It has been suggested that buying 'organic' food, with its less intense use of land and its non-reliance on chemical pesticides, is one way of postponing the insect Armageddon (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/13/buy-organic-food-to-help-curb-global-insect-collapse-say-scientists). It might help a little but organic food tends to be more expensive than conventional foods (so not everyone can afford it) and rapid increases in the planet's human population make this an unlikely solution. It has also been suggested that 'we' could also make our gardens (a very middle to upper British focus) more conducive to insects by cutting the lawn less frequently (I like that) and by using native plants (rather than the imported exotics that characterise most plots). This runs, of course, counter to all the advice offered by the plethora of gardening programmes on TV. I don't doubt that some of us are well-placed do our bit relatively easily but I suspect that the problem of insect collapse requires much more drastic action from governments.
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