• umbrella@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    ever notice how this is getting rare?

    we used to get a rain of bugs when travelling by car at night on back roads.

    • Gerudo@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      There are scientists who actually study bug strikes on vehicles. They use it to measure insect decline, and if you’re wondering, it’s massive. I think one article I read had it as high as 40% over the last 20 years in some areas.

        • PatMustard@feddit.uk
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          11 months ago

          I did a quick search after the other replies came in, scientific consensus seems to be "more research required to be scientific about it, but looks like there are way less bugs about’

      • M137@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        You say that like you think everyone has newer cars. It’s absolutely not about that. It’s our destruction of the climate, which has killed off the majority of insects.

    • M137@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Not just back roads, it used to be almost everywhere. Even riding your bike you often had bugs smash into your face. It’s really eerie now that it’s not a thing anymore.

      • problematicPanther@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        15 years ago i couldn’t go for a run without getting a bunch of cluster flies in my teeth and eyes. now, i hardly see them anymore. and not just because i don’t run as often.

    • ramirezmike@programming.dev
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      11 months ago

      remember how white vehicles were always covered with dead bugs? and how people used to put nets on their front bumper?

    • Johanno@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      Insects are dying. Especially close to cities. Cars are to blame, but probably even more the human impact on nature, destroying the natural living space.

    • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s all my fault. I accidentally hit an entire swarm of bees with my car in the 90s and it’s all gone downhill from there. Hell of a thing to clean off.

    • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s the same with birds.

      Growing up I used to get woken up by the sounds of thousands of birds tweeting and chirping.

      Now I’m lucky to hear a bird that isn’t a crow