The Culprit

Here it is. This is why the pollinators are disappearing. This is destroying the natural balance of our ecosystems.

I took a walk to a park where I live in Wisconsin. The park is managed by our Department of Agriculture. The Garden Club here is caring for a "natural" space along a creek that runs through our village. Yet, they condone the spraying of herbicides and pesticides that are harmful to people, pets, and everything else that lives.

“By their very nature chemical controls are self-defeating, for they have been devised and applied without taking into account the complex biological systems against which they have been blindly hurled.” Rachel Carson. Silent Spring.

Disappearing Monarch Butterflies

Not far from the Pesticide sign, is a stand of Milkweed, planted by the Garden Club. Of course, no caterpillar will survive on these plants. The poison seeps into the stems and leaves and kills anything that eats them.

Turning a living creek into a dead zone

The result of the Department of Agriculture spraying campaign is a dead marsh. Not only are the mosquitoes and "weeds" killed off, but also everything that is designed to control them. The dragonflies, frogs, water boatmen, caterpillars, and minnows are gone. Swallows have left and there are fewer bats. Everything is related and connected. What we have left is a trashy, smelly marsh.