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Climate Brief: Insects are Dying-(here are 25 easy and effective ways you can help protect them) [1]

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Date: 2025-06-22

Guardian UK/The age of extinction/Actions

Insects are dying: here are 25 easy and effective ways you can help protect them



From turning out the lights to letting leaves rot, these small steps can create big changes at home or in the wild



‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects



Insects are in trouble. Around the world, scientists are reporting catastrophic declines in their numbers, even in nature reserves that are largely protected from human touch. We are also beginning to see huge drops in the populations of other animals – such as birds – that depend on insects as food.



Here are 25 small, achievable, science-backed actions you can take today – at home, in the garden, or out in the city.

Turn out the lights

Dk images library



Everyone has seen moths circle a bulb at night. But if that light stays on, researchers estimate one-third of insects trapped in its orbit will die before morning. Light pollution is a huge driver of insect declines: it changes insect behaviour and can even make leaves too tough for them to eat. It is also a relatively easy one to solve, says Brett Seymoure, a behavioural ecologist at Washington University in St Louis. “Once you turn off a light, it is gone. You don’t have to go and clean up, like you do with most pollutants."guardian

Angmar (Brown spotted moth)

Bogong Moths Are First Bugs Known to Use Stars for Long-Distance Travel gizmodo Scientists found that an Australian moth navigates using a celestial compass, possibly guided by the Milky Way itself

Plant native:

One of the best things you can do for insects is cultivate native plants, says Prof Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware. Local insects have evolved alongside local plants, and adapted to specific bloom shapes or leaf textures – many bees, for example, will only visit a single type of flower, even if others are growing nearby. Imported ornamental species and foreign plants often don’t work as food or shelter for local species – by installing native plants, you can help insects get the food they need.

Start composting:

Even on the coldest winter days, compost heaps provide warm, safe habitat for insects to thrive. Over time, compost also improves soil structure and fertility, providing food and habitat for other garden insects. If you don’t have a compost heap of your own, many organisations run neighbourhood composting schemes.

Dk images library

Provide water:

As the climate heats, droughts are ramping up – and insects are struggling to survive the dry conditions. Providing sources of water with a basin, puddle, pond or bowl can help. Keep in mind that bees can’t swim, so deeper water sources will need either a clear rim to drink from, or “islands”: according to University of California, floating corks or piles of rocks can work. Research has also shown that bees get important nutrients from “dirty” water, where leaves or algae are breaking down, so don’t keep your bee pools pristine.

Weed by hand:

Herbicides and pesticides are one of the most significant threats to insect life. Glyphosate, one of the world’s most common herbicides, has significant effects on insects, damaging their immune systems. Avoid blasting unwanted plants with chemicals and weed by hand instead – there is also research to indicate that spending time gardening is linked to better physical and psychological health.

Create shade:

Insects are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature, which act as a trigger for stages of their lifecycle. But as global heating disrupts previously predictable weather patterns, these processes are increasingly out of sync. Creating cooler areas of shade – particularly when temperatures are abnormally high – provides shelter and respite for insects.

You can volunteer for one of the butterfly counts now run across the UK, US, Europe, and many other parts of the world

Fish Suffer Up to 22 Minutes of Intense Pain When Taken Out of Water Each year, a trillion or so fish are pulled from the water, typically destined for our plates. While it's hardly a pleasurable outcome for the animal, a new study has just put a sobering number on their suffering. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hail originally from the Pacific Ocean's cold water tributaries, but are now a popular food fish worldwide, farmed in every continent except Antarctica. Most of the time they are killed by asphyxiation, either in open air or ice water. While this is a cost-effective way to kill fish en-mass, an international team of biologists, led by Cynthia Schuck-Paim from the Welfare Footprint Institute, has found that each fish can experience up to 22 minutes of intense pain with this method. Read more: www.yahoo.com/...

WesternMonarchButterflies-DALE dk images library

Skip the lawn – or mow it less:

No mow May is one of the most successful recent environmental campaigns in the UK, intended to provide more habitat to bees, butterflies and other invertebrates during a key part of their lifecycle when they are emerging from a cold, hard winter. But it doesn’t have to be only May. Letting grasses grow uninterrupted, particularly where native wildflowers thrive, can be a big boost for insects.

Leave the leaves:

When trees shed their greenery, resist the urge to rake them up: leaf litter is a crucial habitat. Researchers have found that raking up leaves reduces moth and butterfly numbers by 45%, beetles 24%, and spiders up to 67%. Save yourself the trouble, and let the leaves lie.

Choose keystone plants:

While native plants in general will help, a smaller subset are absolutely critical for insects – particularly caterpillars – and the birds that feed on them. “Just 14% of our native plants are supporting 90% of the caterpillar species in North America – we call them keystone plants,” Tallamy says – and the same applies to many other countries. After he rehabilitated his own plot of land with keystone species, Tallamy says, he watched the numbers of insects and birds shoot up. For the US, those keystone plant species are listed by region by the National Wildlife Federation.

Protect owls and bats:

While often hidden from sight, bats and some owl species feast on insects through the spring, summer and early autumn, and play a key role in regulating their populations. Where owls and bats disappear, farmers tend to increase their insecticides: a study last year found that when the local bat population died, farmers dramatically increased chemical pesticide use. By supporting your local bat and owl populations, you can have positive knock-on effects for insects

More:www.theguardian.com/…

(Thanks for reading Climate Brief)

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