Episode #230 - Oliver Milman

Remember when you were a kid, and after long road trips, your parents would have to scrape all the dead bugs off the windshield? Now think about your last road trip. Fewer bugs, right?

In his new book, The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World, Oliver Milmanshares how scientists began studying the decline of insects and what that means for us.

Insects don’t get the respect they deserve. We often cast them off as annoying pests when, in reality, they play a critical role in a functioning ecosystem. And it’s more than just bees!

But the sad reality is that the changes in climate, plus the liberal use of pesticides, are creating a world that kills the insects we want, like bees and butterflies, and leaves us with those that are undesired (think mosquitos and cockroaches).

During my co-host, James Connolly’s interview with Oliver, they get into: 

• The importance of insect decline

• Is this the sixth mass extinction

• All about pollinators

• The baseline syndrome

• The necessary actions of dung beetles

• Why lawns are lifeless and unnecessary