It's a bleak picture, and despite the increase in awareness since the 1960s, Goulson makes it pretty clear that its a vastly under-researched problem. I note that funding for ecological research has not fared well over recent decades, at the precise point when we needed it most. But there is enough data to be very concerned about plummeting insect numbers and probably many species going extinct without our even knowing it. Since insects are a vital foundation of ecosystems, as well as being fascinating, this is concerning on many levels. We rely entirely on healthy ecosystems for our own food, in the end.

Baehr, Theodore; Grimes, Bruce; Rice, Lisa Ann (1987), The movie & video guide for Christian families, p.168, The Quiet Earth is a New Zealand remake of The Night of the Comet and The World, the Flesh and the Devil… This far, the book is a dire but essential intervention into public debate. Were it to end there, I would give it five stars, and everyone concerned should read this far at least. The remaining two parts of the book highlight what I think are two main limitations - one contextual and surmountable, the other profound and revealing of broader problems with the response to environmental problems.While western societies may not eat insects, we do regularly consume them at one step removed in the food chain. Freshwater fish such as trout and salmon feed heavily on insects, as do game birds like partridge, pheasant and turkey. Part 1: The March and September Quarter Dates A guest post prepared by Dr G. Terence Meaden mid-March 2019 Advances in archaeoastronomy are announced that introduce a new approach to examining the axial and recumbent stone circles of Ireland and Scotland by studying them at sunrise on what are deduced preplanned dates built into the monuments. Since 2012 research has advanced swiftly on several fronts and in this first article for Silent Earth the studies are illustrated with reference to the splendid Drombeg Stone Circle in County Cork, South-West Ireland (Figure 1). [caption id="attachment_4985" align="aligncenter" width="707"] Figure 1. Drombeg Stone Circle[/caption] HOW TO STUDY RECUMBENT STONE CIRCLES Until now most megalith-archaeoastronomy enthusiasts stood at the geometrical centre of recumbent stone circles gazing at ... Read More There was also a turf maze at Pimperne in Dorset, said to have been destroyed by the plough in 1730. John Aubrey, after whom the Aubrey holes at Stonehenge are named, was educated at nearby Blandford school, of which he wrote in his diary in the 17th century (as interpreted by Ruth Scurr in her highly readable book John Aubrey, My Own Life), ‘I have found as much roguery at Blandford school as there is said to be at Newgate prison’. He also wrote in his diary that year, ‘Sometimes, on holy days or play days, we boys go to tread the maze at Pimperne, which is near Blandford.’ Eye-opening, inspiring and riveting, Silent Earth is part love letter to the insect world, part elegy, part rousing manifesto for a greener planet. It is a call to arms for profound change at every level – in government policy, agriculture, industry and in our own homes and gardens. Although time is running out, it is not yet too late for insect populations to recover. We may feel helpless in the face of many of the environmental issues that loom on our horizon, but Goulson shows us that we can all take simple steps to encourage insects and counter their destruction.

Below: Two photographs by Lady Antrobus of the great trilithon stone 56 before it was straightened in 1901. The upper image shows it leaning hard over onto bluestone 68, which can be seen here in the foreground to the right. I dabbled over the years with all sorts of different insects, but then came to focus on bees – partly because they’re so clever. Bees do all sorts of amazing stuff that other insects tend not to do: they can navigate over huge distances, they can memorise and learn, they have really complicated social lives.More broadly, and partly because of the important role insects play in supporting the biodiversity of everything else, this book is a great description of the broader crisis of biodiversity that the world finds itself in - something maybe more or less frightening than climate change, but acting in concert with it to create a crisis for the foundations of our ecology, economy and culture. Kane, Joe (2000), The Phantom of the Movies' videoscope, p.292, ISBN 9780812931495, Murphy's New Zealand–set reworking of The World, the Flesh and the Devil, replete with racial angle… A book with a title referencing Rachel Carson's seminal Silent Spring is a bold undertaking. But it had to be done. Despite the growth in awareness that Carson provoked, the actual destruction of the environment never stopped. DDT may have been mostly phased out, but now we have neonicotinoid insecticides which are continuing the relentless destruction of insect life and the food web that we all depend on. Insects are the key to so many processes, food chains and the natural working of the planet. We need them. As Rachel Carson so powerfully advocated in Silent Spring, the misuse of pesticides has a hugely hushed up negative effect on the environment. Dave Gouson builds on her argument here, capturing the importance of insects and how the continued use of chemicals and climate change effects wildlife. He describes how our behaviour is annihilating one of the most overlooked types of creatures on the planet: he rightfully suggests that we need to do better.