insects

5 Biggest Pesticide Companies Are Making Billions From ‘Highly Hazardous’ Chemicals, Investigation Finds

5 Biggest Pesticide Companies Are Making Billions From ‘Highly Hazardous’ Chemicals, Investigation Finds

Poor people in developing countries are far more likely to suffer from exposure to pesticides classified as having high hazard to human health or the environment, according to new data that Unearthed analyzed. The analysis shows that the world’s top five pesticide makers are making billions, accounting for more than 36 percent of their income, […]

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    Locust Swarms Prompt Somalia to Declare National Emergency

    Locust Swarms Prompt Somalia to Declare National Emergency

    Large swarms of locusts have ravaged crops in East Africa, prompting authorities in Somalia to declare a national emergency, making it the first country in the region to do so, as Al Jazeera reported. As EcoWatch noted last week, this locust storm came across the Red Sea from Yemen and first attacked Eritrea, Djibouti and […]

    Farming Without Pesticides: How Can We Make Agriculture Greener?

    Farming Without Pesticides: How Can We Make Agriculture Greener?

    Hanging on a gate is a sign reading: “Potatoes — healthy and delicious.” The slogan, to which the word “rare” could justifiably be added, is in line with Cornel Lindemann-Berk’s philosophy of quality over quantity. “We don’t have enough rain in the summer,” he tells DW. “And since we don’t want to water them, we’ve […]

    Help Save Bumblebees by Planting These Flowers in Your Garden

    Help Save Bumblebees by Planting These Flowers in Your Garden

    In an effort to aid North American bumblebee conservation, a group of California researchers has identified which flowers certain bee species prefer. There are nearly 20,000 known bee species in the world, 4,000 of which are native to the U.S., according to the U.S. Geological Society. Bees pollinate roughly three-quarters of all fruits, nuts and […]

    Acting Now Could Save Bugs From Insect Apocalypse

    Acting Now Could Save Bugs From Insect Apocalypse

    By Ajit Niranjan Seven ‘no-regret’ actions could rescue insects on the road to extinction, a new roadmap for conservation says, helping ecosystems even where a lack of research means scientists cannot prove benefits to individual species. Earth’s biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates but population data on insects — which are small, diverse and abundant […]

    Worst Locust Swarm to Hit East Africa in Decades Linked to Climate Crisis

    Worst Locust Swarm to Hit East Africa in Decades Linked to Climate Crisis

    East Africa is facing its worst locust infestation in decades, and the climate crisis is partly to blame. The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said that Ethiopia and Somalia had not seen a swarm this bad in 25 years, while Kenya was facing its largest infestation in 70 years, BBC News reported. “Vulnerable families […]

    In Glacier National Park, Ice Isn’t the Only Thing That’s Disappearing

    In Glacier National Park, Ice Isn’t the Only Thing That’s Disappearing

    By Jason Bittel High up in the mountains of Montana’s Glacier National Park, there are two species of insect that only a fly fishermen or entomologist would probably recognize. Known as stoneflies, these aquatic bugs are similar to dragonflies and mayflies in that they spend part of their lives underwater before emerging onto the land, […]

    Japanese Fisheries Collapsed Due to Pesticides, New Research Says

    Japanese Fisheries Collapsed Due to Pesticides, New Research Says

    Scientists announced today that pesticide use on rice fields led to the collapse of a nearby fishery in Lake Shinji, Japan, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The long-term study seems to have borne out the prophecy of Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book Silent Spring, in which the author describes the […]

    Tick-Borne Brain Illness Found in UK for the First Time

    Tick-Borne Brain Illness Found in UK for the First Time

    A potentially fatal infectious disease that ticks can pass to people through bites has been identified by health authorities in the United Kingdom for the first time, according to Public Health England (PHE), as the BBC reported. Health authorities in the UK said it confirmed cases of tick-borne encephalitis virus in ticks in two parts […]