Few Bugs on Your Windshield? Great? Think again....

In years gone by, one sure sign of a motorist's summer freeway travels was a windshield, grille, and front bumper peppered with the remains of bugs mowed down by the speeding automobile. This included small flying bugs as well as the occasional butterfly. There was even a product sold by car-wax companies called bug and tar remover.  That product may still be manufactured and sold; I don't know about that. What I do know is that I haven't needed it for many years -- even though I routinely have taken many summer trips on high-speed roads.

I don't see bugs on my vehicles any more.

Another thing I've noticed is that I no longer see any butterflies in my yard or on my walks in the summer. Moths, yes; butterflies, no.

Something is changing.

This is one more of those "ecological" things that may not be noticed. However, once we are aware of it, it behooves us to consider possible implications.

Fewer butterflies and flying bugs in general may mean what? Well, let's consider the bee colonies that are at risk. For the urban or suburban dweller, fewer bees may mean one less summer annoyance -- or risk, if one is allergic to bee stings. However, for farmers and other horticulturists, who depend on bees to pollinate their crops, they probably recognize that this is a threat to our food chain, which is fundamentally based on plant foods.

Dead bee

Perhaps in a similar way, a diminishment of flying bugs in general may be another bellwether of a similar ecological threat. After all, in the natural world, little creatures serve as food for bigger creatures. As flying bugs become more scarce, this may have an impact on bigger animals.

Yet wing nuts including Trump and the current EPA head, Pruitt, are busy dismantling environmental regulations. They are either stupidly, ignorantly, or self-servingly (likely a combination of all three) blind to the realities of rapid and potentially catastrophic climate and other environmental changes. When an unimaginably-large sheet of antarctic ice breaks off and falls into the ocean (it's just a matter of time), we'll see a significant and immediately-measurable rise in sea level.

When this baby finally breaks off and falls into the water, coastal areas beware!

Further, the Trump administration's re-opening of the flood gates for corporate polluters will speed the melting of polar ice. Temperatures will continue to rise. The immersed "island" of collective microscopic plastic particles in the Pacific Ocean will continue to grow, harming wildlife and increasingly present in our own food chain. Land-based pollution will continue to rise harming both wildlife and increasing human disease rates.

Actions taken by individuals and businesses to self-limit environmentally-irresponsible actions is commendable and needed. It's also insufficient.

For every person, company or corporation that does the right thing environmentally, there are untolled numbers who will shortsightedly not do the right thing. This is the entire reason that we need a strong, wise government to make appropriate rules, regulations and guidelines to ensure that our freedom to do what ever we choose is limited sufficiently to ensure our long-term survival and prosperity.

It is extremely foolish and short sighted to opt for short-term prosperity through deregulation that will threaten our long-term health and prosperity.

If the dismantling of the Trump administration doesn't proceed quickly enough through legal prosecution for whatever reasons, they must be stopped via political means. Vote wisely, with long-term interests in view. Keep the big picture in mind. Be peaceful, but get active. Get involved.

Dump Trump, those of his administration and others of his ilk.