Greenpeace International

More than 40% of insect species have declined in just a decade. They’re vanishing 8 times faster than mammals, birds or reptiles.

If insects go, so do the ecosystems that keep us alive.

Biodiversity is our life-support system — we can’t afford to let it collapse.

#WorldBiodiversityDay

May 22 at 9:57amWeb
Show threadLeonard RitterMay 22
@greenpeace 2080: lots of insects surrounding the empty car
Show threadLiberal CroneMay 22
@lritter @greenpeace city cockroaches will probably survive.
Show threadhaddenmartMay 22
@greenpeace
🔮 😂 ⏰ We do not have much time. The destruction of our planet is not something that can be fixed overnight. We need to actively work on it now
Show threadKid ManiaMay 22
@haddenmart @greenpeace
☠️ 🙈 🙉 🙊 ☠️
❝...These billionaires WILL fucking kill you, to keep doing capitalism on a boiling planet. They're installing fascism so you don't have a choice, they're controlling police states because they mean to preserve their world order, with violence--that's actually why security forces exist, everywhere...❞
- AnarchoNinaWrites
Show threadGiant May 22
@greenpeace thought waymo 
Show threadM. GrégoireMay 22
@greenpeace The decline of insects is real, but the cartoon is misleading. To some degree, fewer insects splatter on windshields because of better aerodynamics.
Show threadxyhhx May 22

@mpjgregoire the point: ------>
you:

@greenpeace

Show threadts 🚉May 22
@mpjgregoire @greenpeace actually if anything the cartoon *understates* how bad our situation is.
Show threadatlovatoMay 22
@greenpeace - How true
Show threadMadness832May 22
@greenpeace Does that bug you?🤔😀
Show threadearthlingMay 22

@greenpeace

See Epilogue, Practically an Obituary
in Insects, Successful Models of Evolution, 2025

#insects
#books

Show threadearthlingMay 22

@greenpeace
/2
In fact, studies in the Netherlands and the UK have shown that there is a causal link between the decline in flower pollinators (such as bees and hoverflies) and the decline in plant species that rely on pollination by these same insects. A decline in flower pollination also has direct economic disadvantages for humans. Globally, the resulting losses are estimated at EUR 153 billion per year, within the EU alone at EUR 15 billion.

#insects

Show threadearthlingMay 22

@greenpeace
/3
The focus here is on the honey bee (Apis mellifera) with its increasing problems over the last few decades, including in the form of colony collapsedisorder (CCD). This term originates from the United States and refers to a specific form of bee mortality. Symptoms include a rapid loss of adult workers in the hive and the absence of dead workers in and around the hive.

#insects

Show threadearthlingMay 22

@greenpeace
/4
The brood, young bees honey, and pollen, on the other hand, are still present at the beginning. Nest pests (varroa mites) take care of the rest. Beekeepers are experiencing some devastating losses in their colonies as a result, albeit to varying degrees depending on the region. In some areas of China, the populations of honey bees and other flower visitors have been reduced to such an extent that human labor has to compensate for the bees performance.

#insects

Show threadearthlingMay 22

@greenpeace
/5
In the Chinese province of Sichuan, for example, almost all insects have been killed by pesticides. There, fruit trees are pollinated by cheap human labor.

In contrast to most other insects, honey bees have high popularity ratings and a certain lobby. “Anything that harms bees must be taken off the market.” announced the former German Minister of Agriculture in 2018. with a view to a possible ban on certain insecticides that are thought to be a major cause of bee mortality.

Show threadearthlingMay 22

@greenpeace
/6
Should this really happen, not only bees but also numerous other flower-pollinating insects (including those that have no lobby) could benefit.

Source:

#insects
#books

Show threadMargret KuarellMay 22
@greenpeace meanwhile people still share their windshield calling it 'insect graveyard' ....
Show threadts 🚉May 22
@greenpeace and the last image is actually the state of a typical car today. (Sitting parked taking up space that could be habitat.)
Show threadRichard Michael BlaberMay 22
@greenpeace This is why we mustn't ignore the biodiversity crisis, any more than we can afford to ignore the climate crisis, @GeraldKutney!
Show threadRyek DarkenerMay 22

@greenpeace

Majority of Humans: Yes, we can. ;->

Show threadGabriele RomanoMay 22
@greenpeace very true
Show threadjalagonellMay 22
@greenpeace I still see bugs when I take road trips.
Show threadFrançois @PragueMay 22

@greenpeace

Seeing humans disappear is satisfying. Looking forward to 2050!

Show threadRobinMay 22
@greenpeace
When I was a kid in the 60’s, here in CA Central Valley, there were lots of praying mantises, grasshoppers, butterflies, bees, ladybugs, mealy bugs, caterpillars, beetles. 5 years ago still lots of ladybugs. Now almost nuthin 😭😭😭😭 (except slugs and cockroaches and spiders, where I now live)
Show threadMoliseHorizonMay 22
@greenpeace 👍
Show threadOlle GladsøMay 22
@greenpeace This is so scary.
How do we begin to fix it when authorities are trying their best to not do anything?
Show threadDominique dit le voileuxMay 23

@greenpeace

Et tous nos dirigeants se foutent de la disparition des insectes, des oiseaux, de la biodiversité. Tant que le fric rentre, tout va bien 😠

Show threadLaura G, Sassy 70’s5d ago
@greenpeace I’m 71. I remember as a child the backyard full of lightning bugs. I remember walking to school with butterflies all around. And that was inner city Indianapolis. I remember road trips, where with every stop to pump gas you had to clean the bug guts off the windshield so you could see. Now it’s an occasional bug. Pesticides, climate change, loss of habitat… it’s hard to know what has had the greatest effect. 😢