Sunrise used to be accompanied by a symphony of bird song, but now all I hear is auto traffic. Between the effects of habitat destruction, climate change, poisonous chemicals, pesticides, and a major drop in food chain insect populations, birds are disappearing.
Since 1970, bird populations in North America have declined by nearly thirty percent, which means three billion birds are gone, an avian holocaust. If we are indeed entering Earth’s sixth extinction event, this is the only one for which humankind is responsible, and how sad is that?
The scientific consensus is that birds are what remain of dinosaurs, an evolutionary path hundreds of millions of years old. For a planet that formed 4.5 billion years ago, millions of years are a drop in the bucket, but that human technological culture – only 10,000 years old – could be responsible for a global extinction event is stunning. The earth will recover, of course; it’s what it does, and our human legacy will disappear, which given its present nature, is as it should be.
As we learn about the other planets in our solar system, we’re discovering worlds of silence. The hum of life is missing: no trilling insects, no bird song, no wind in the leaves, just rocky emptiness or superheated gases. Our world, as far as we know, is the only place in the universe that harbors life, and we are destroying it for our pleasure and profit. And what’s worse, we know it’s what we are doing but seem incapable of stopping. The wealthiest among us have given up on earth and have set their sights on Mars. Pathetic.
Interestingly, my vegetable garden was very unproductive this year. Types of plants that in earlier years produced an ample supply didn’t set any fruit at all. Cucumber, Tomatillo, Pepper plants; all produced meager results. When I researched the reason, one kept coming up: an absence of pollinators. This made sense; the plants were producing plenty of blossoms, but no bees were pollinating them. The result, naturally, was no veggies. I’ve had a kitchen garden for many years, and this has never happened before.
Industrial agriculture, home landscaping and land development overall have wiped out native bee populations, many of which are far more effective pollinators than the now ubiquitous, non-native European Honeybees. Many native bees are solitary, nesting among the leaves that pile up under deciduous trees. Our penchant for leaf blowing and keeping things “neat and tidy” destroys native bee habitat. Knowing this, I’ve stopped removing the leaves under my trees, but the problem is global and extends well beyond my little yard.
The phrase The Birds and the Bees used mean falling in love and propagating the species; “Birds do it, Bees do it…” you know the tune. I don’t hear it said very often anymore, it’s become too quaint and old-fashioned. Sadly, the way things are going birds and bees are on their way to becoming quaint and old-fashioned, too.
One of the Mars landers has a microphone and has been transmitting not just photos (see above) but recordings of the sounds of Mars. One can hear wind rushing past the mike, but otherwise Mars is silent. By all indications, the silence of the land describes all the rocky planets in our solar system, except one…for now.
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