“I should like to arrive in front of the young painters of the year 2000 on the wings of a butterfly.” In 1946, when the great French post-impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard wrote those words, perhaps inferring that his paintings, like the luminous, jewel-like surfaces of butterflies’ wings might inspire flights of poetic imagination and shimmering color in the artists of the future, there were plenty of butterflies soaring amidst the gardens, fields and forests of the planet. Today, the delightful fluttering forms of these beautiful iconic insects have dramatically diminished in numbers. Casualties of climate changes induced by fossil fuel driven global capitalism, butterflies and other insects may be facing extinction along with a plethora of other endangered species, including Homo sapiens. According to a recent study from Germany, insect abundance has fallen by 75 percent over the last 27 years. The once ubiquitous bumblebee has also been added to the endangered list along with butterflies.
Thanks for your post, Stewart. I have photographed with local folk devoted to preserving pollinators. Some recent good news is that the honeybee population is way up, but that change is harming native pollinators. Nature is best at balancing things, and your post rightly points out how big agriculture has been interfering with nature.
Thanks for your post, Stewart. I have photographed with local folk devoted to preserving pollinators. Some recent good news is that the honeybee population is way up, but that change is harming native pollinators. Nature is best at balancing things, and your post rightly points out how big agriculture has been interfering with nature.