There are no bugs anymore.

There are no bugs anymore. When I was younger we took lots of road trips. Almost every time we got gas, someone would have to wash splattered bodies of bugs from the windshield. We don’t have to do that anymore. In our effort for the comfort of humans we have sprayed, taken away habitats, and take every precaution we can so we don’t ever have to encounter a bug anymore. Large trucks roam the states spraying chemicals into the air to kill the “bothersome” mosquitos (everyone else is just joyous cannon fodder) so we can have our cookouts and swim in our pools in peace. We have long forgotten that plants and animals were here first, and will outlast our hubris. It doesn’t matter to us. We would rather dig a hole in the ground and fill it with concrete and chlorine to not actually swim in but rather float on top of so we can drink and tan.  No use for the creek down the road, or the beauty of a lake. We ripped out the plants so we could have grass that we don’t actually eat or run through, only to annoy us when we have to make sure every blade is an acceptable length. There are no bugs anymore. No bugs means no bats. Did you know that bats are so diverse that 1 in 4 mammal species is a bat? No bugs, no bats, a quarter of the mammal species is gone. No bats? Bats are responsible for pollination of over 500 plant species, including agave from which our tequila is made. No bugs? No Bats. No Taco Tuesday. No bats no mangoes. No bats no mango habanero salsa for your now margaritaless Taco Tuesday. No bats no chocolate. No bats no eucalyptus. Your spa days will never be the same. Maybe self-care should become self-protection where you care for your impact on the world so you still have a self to care for. We have become so bothered by the natural world in which we are the plague that we destroy it every chance we get for what we call “human comforts”. How’s the going for us? Not so comfortable with the rising temperatures and sea levels. Your time share will soon be waterfront, so that’ll add to your value. Your grandchildren can figure out the problems when it’s under water. Maybe we will figure out by then how to live under water so we can plaque the oceans too. Wait…we already are. Maybe we will just live on the trash floating in the ocean, like a mobile apartment building. We have destroyed the coral. We have produced so much carbon dioxide that it is clearing out corals worldwide by lowering the pH of the oceans, making the corals unable to produce strong skeletons so it is more easily wiped out by storms and surges. Storms and surges are getting worse too. So much for the little guys- the algae and plankton that live in and around the reefs who are really good at absorbing carbon dioxide. More pollution, less coral, less plankton, stronger storms, even less coral, even less of a chance to fight this downward flight. All because humans have become too lazy to walk, to comfortable to be inconvenienced, and too good to be bothered by bugs. There are no bugs anymore. I wish there were.