Into the unknown

It feels safe to assume that you like living on this planet, right?

And there's a good chance you like eating? 

Okay, now be honest, do you like flies? cockroaches? ants?

See there's a bit of a good news/ bad news situation here… For those that don't like insects, the good news is that globally, insect abundance is declining by roughly two point five percent per year. The bad news for everyone is that at the current rate complete ecological collapse, planet-wide is possible within the next one hundred years.

It's estimated that we've only scientifically described twenty percent of the global biodiversity of insects, which means that much of what's declining might be at risk of, or succumbing to, silent extinction. Disappearing before we can even understand why it matters.

In many ways, one of the last great unknowns on earth is our own backyards.

Six years ago, when I began photographing animals on LEGO, I knew nothing about any of this. Like most people, I wasn't aware of the insect apocalypse. If anything the idea would have seemed ridiculous if I’d heard of it.

Insects, annoying unnecessary bugs were everywhere; invading houses, destroying gardens, spoiling food. No amount of sprays or baits or traps could get rid of them. They seemed unstoppable.

I started photographing insects because in the tropics of north Queensland we have some of the biggest, weirdest, rarest critters in the country. The photos were unique and interesting, but I didn't know what to do with them. It was Katy Perry who eventually pushed me into starting an Instagram account, and my life has never been the same since. I started using my platform, Gone Buggo, to teach and through teaching, I learned, and along the way, I've come to understand insects like never before.

Due to their size and diversity, insects are critical ecological service providers, from dung burial, through to waste breakdown, into pest control, pollination, and providing nutrition for broader wildlife. They underpin and facilitate the functioning of life on earth as we know it. 

Although it’s difficult to get absolute numbers on something so small and widespread, estimates suggest that insect abundance may have declined by at least 75 percent in the last 50 years.

The subsequent impacts of that kind of loss are still unfolding and sometimes unrecognised, but will undoubtedly involve declines in insect-eating creatures like birds, bats, lizards, frogs and fish, significant reductions in contributions to soil health through nutrient cycling, and collapses in all insect plant relationships, not just pollination. 

A 2006 study cautiously estimated that the economic value of insects to the US alone would be around 57 billion dollars per year. But this is about more than money; all life on earth will suffer from the loss of insects.

As scary as that may be, it's not set in stone. Insects have survived every mass extinction event that's occurred on this planet since they first evolved some 480 million years ago. They are hardy, adaptable, and resilient, but more than that, they're awesome.

E O Wilson described insects as the little things that run the world yet, despite that incredibly accurate assessment, they are often overlooked and undervalued in science, conservation, policymaking and public opinion. They have been misunderstood and misrepresented to the point of demonization, with repulsion, disgust, and fear being normal responses for most people.

It's important to realise that a lot of the hatred, fear and disgust around insects stems from ignorance, predates modern scientific discoveries, and precludes us from improving our relationship with them. If ignorance is the core of the problem, then the solution relies on exploring the unknown. 

Thanks to modern technology, we have a much deeper understanding of how insects live, how they are amazing, and why they're important. Through film and photography we can dive into their world in entirely new ways. And there are heaps of contact creators, like myself, who are trying to dispel the myths and help people see insects for what they truly are. 

As vast and insurmountable as the insect apocalypse might seem, the solution starts with you. It doesn't take long online to realise that what you thought you knew was at best, limited, and at worst; wrong. With a bit of curiosity and a sense of adventure, your own backyard becomes a bold, new frontier. And with a free citizen science app, like iNaturalist, you can get real-time feedback on the things you discover while contributing to our scientific understanding of the world. 

If everyday people start understanding what lives in their backyard, they're going to start caring about what survives in their backyard. Caring leads to better choices. Better choices guide policy, and policy defines impacts. If ants have taught me nothing else, they've shown me, irrefutably, that the collective decisions of even tiny creatures can change the world. 

It's time to start looking at insects for what they truly are. And not what the horror stories made them out to be. I'm not suggesting that you should invite them all into your home, but it's time to understand that without them, you might not have a home at all. 

Open your mind, 

Explore with curiosity. 

And remember, insects are awesome.