Objects in Mirror: July 20, 2008 Archive

The fate of insects

Posted at 7:22 AM on July 20, 2008 by Julia Schrenkler

How do you feel about insects? Do you believe they a critical part of the food chain and natural processes, or would you just as soon crush the little biter? This week Word for Word wonders about how we should handle the "war on insects," specifically those that threaten crops:

We may not be using kerosene to control insects anymore, but some would argue that the pesticides we do use are equally harmful to our health and our environment. [James] McWilliams talks about more natural methods farmers used to use to protect their crops from bugs--would it be possible to reintegrate these methods into our modern day agriculture system? Should we continue to fight pests as though it's possible to win this "war," or do we need to change our ways of insect control?

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