Rebugging the Planet by Vicki Hird
Rebugging the Planet
The Remarkable Things that Insects (and Other Invertebrates) Do — And Why We Need to Love Them More by Vicki Hird
Pages: 224 pages
Size: 5.5 x 8.5 inch
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Pub. Date: September 23, 2021
ISBN: 9781645020189**Thank you Chelsea Green Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.**
Easily one of the best books with a call to action heart at its core for saving our invertebrate friends in a cohesive social and political manner. Vicki Hird has been campaigning, teaching, researching and guiding people regarding food, farming, and environmental issues for three decades. Her enthusiasm and love for insects right at the beginning of the book will make you pick up your trowel and work the soil in your home to reconnect with nature once again. The book’s powerful message is in the word “Rebugging” itself which resonates throughout the chapters.
Insect decline is real and documented. The data are present. The projections are bleak. The real challenge lies in creating a novel awareness among the human race about how important bugs are in our future survival. This book presents a “bug” manifesto, if I may, for every citizen of the planet to rebug their green spaces and avert an inevitable ecosystem collapse.
The author presents some classic examples of how the world would look without bugs. A world without pollinators is a world without food. If this sounds like an alarmist clarion call, it is. If you have seen the world raging with wildfires in the summer of 2021, it is because fires are visible ecological disasters. They devastate human properties in a matter of days and hence garner human attention and media coverage. Insects are tiny, creepy crawlies. Their size and structure make them unique and different. Insects don’t vote. They are not citizens. But they are the silent workers in the web of nature working away to pollinate plants, maintain a balance of mutualistic relationships, and maintain the food chain of an ecosystem. Their decline will create a ripple effect in nature which will go unnoticed until it is too late because of the very disconnect man has with his surroundings. This book calls for a change in our perspectives about the same creepy crawlies and elevates them to the status of citizens of nature.
Readers will find many interesting facts about various species of insects and how they can inspire us to be better global citizens. Be it social insects like termites and ants or spiders and their web engineering feats, there is so much to learn from bugs all around us. There is a little bit for everyone in here. School kids, biologists, gardeners, farmers, bug enthusiasts, engineers, architects, and even artificial intelligence and machine learning experts. The major part of the book presents examples of recreating the natural ecosystems as they were in their wild state. Organic farming, zero harmful chemicals, planting specific trees and shrubs to attract insects, introducing natural predatory insects to ward off pests, using natural remedies for pests in your gardens, leaving wildflowers as insect feed, composting and using worms for better soil health, and many more ways of rewilding and rebugging nature are presented throughout the book.
Hird doesn’t shy away from laying out the political and economical problems associated with the loss of biodiversity. She gives us an outline of how major corporations control directly or indirectly food industry, farming, and land occupation around the world. For someone going to the supermarket it might seem unnecessary to understand the economic ramifications of buying a shiny, unblemished, symetrical tomato but it is our pattern of consumerism that holds the powerful conglomerates together. Might just go to your local organic farmer to buy a cabbage and even if you find bugs in it embrace it as a sign of pesticide-free farming.
There are many useful links and tips to connect with local organizations for UK readers. Although readers from the rest of world have sufficient content to give rebugging a chance and make it a way of life.
The book comes out on 23rd September, 2021.
