Loss of...

diversity in nature, and what to do about it, really.

Talking to Tim yesterday about his bees, and whether to help them/treat them for the mites that his hives seem to have. It's a sensitive question, as everything one does now-a-days (as opposed to a long time ago) (more on this later), had so many related and inter-related consequences it's hard to figure out a course of action.

I remember playing in the park across the street from our apartment on Superior Rd in Cleveland, OH. I used to walk home from school along the trail and the creek. There were always insects and fish and animals to check out and see; worms after a rain storm, grasshoppers, leaf hoppers, fireflys in the dusk, crayfish and minnows in the stream, drangonflys around the creek banks. I remember being down at my grandparents farm outside Albany, OH... moths flying around the porch lights, chiggers on your legs, bees; so many bees!, wasps, hornets, honeybees, bumblebees, many different kinds of ants, big fat tomato worms, Japanese beetles around the rose bushes in my grandfather's garden, Luna moths on the cool wall of the house, pill bugs, tons of circadias, gnats...and I know I'm not getting them all written down here.

Where have they all gone? Today, as I walk up at Briones with the dogs, I don't any insects, any bugs, hardly any birds, nothing but weeds, no plant or animal or insect diversity.

I truly believe we have lost an incredible amount of natural diversity in the last 30 years alone!

In trying to find a couple of pictures for this posting, when I searched for garden insects it kept matching to garden pests instead!

I'm simply overwhelmed by these feelings this morning and this information, which becomes more apparent to me day by day.
Is this loss process 'normal' as man continues to overtake and control and dominate the natural world?
Is this just Darwin's survival of the fittest?
Is there any way to change this loss?