Of Birds and Bees

Insects, birds and animals are disappearing at an alarming rate. When are we going to do something about it?

A couple of weeks ago I had to go to Munich on a business matter. It was a nice day and so I drove there with my car. When I arrived back in Salzburg, I realized that only one insect had committed hara-kiri on my windscreen by being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I was suddenly confronted with what scientists and conservationists have been telling us for some time: the number of insects is decreasing drastically and, subsequently, so are the birds that rely on them for food.

Now insects are not as appealing to us as koalas or pandas. I myself have a distinctly horrid memory of a huge Sahara locust landing on my face in my teens which still makes me shudder. Insects, however, serve an important function: they literally feed us. If various bees and other pollinating insects cease to exist, we will have hardly any fruit. They are also at the lower end of the food chain and many birds, reptiles and amphibians, which depend on an abundance of insects, would become extinct. Across the border in Bavaria a very successful campaign to protect the bees and other insects forced the regional government to enact laws to promote their protection. Austria, a country full of nature and honey lovers, should follow suit.

Our neighbours did not wait for their politicians to do something about it and neither should the Austrians, but, before we start marching in the streets, how about some simple steps we can take to help the bees? For example, a lot of lawn mowing takes place every weekend which irritates a lot of people who want their peace and quiet. If we mowed the lawns less often, we could give them time to flower thereby providing more food sources for insects.

Secondly, why not decorate your balconies with flowers which help attract and feed insects? Nasturtium, honeysuckle and other fragrant flowers are ideal for this. Stop covering this beautiful land with concrete and tarmac and stop using insecticides to kill insects which are useful to us.

It seems ironic that nutritionists are looking at insects as a probable future source of food for mankind. At this rate, I doubt that we will be able to pile heaps of fried crickets onto our plates in the near future.

Apart from insects and birds, climate change is also causing a lot of hardship to some animals. The melting North Pole will see the foreseeable disappearance of the Polar bear in the wild. Most animals are disappearing because of some people’s greed. Rhinos and tigers are decimated for their horns and bones respectively, sharks are killed for their fins, elephants for their tusks. The list is endless. Thanks to some protective legislation poachers are not as successful as they used to be but it has not halted such criminal activity.

Nature does so many things for us that we take for granted. It is high time that we do some things for Mother Nature. Stop polluting, consume intelligently, build natural gardens with local plants and create natural habitats where insects, birds and animals can co-exist with us instead of sterile lawns. Our younger generation seems to have awakened to this, so why can’t we?