Fireflies: Innocent Pesticide Bystanders

(from www.firefly.org)

Growing up on a dairy farm in Bradford, Maine, I’m not sure I even knew what a fireworks display looked like — but that didn’t matter. Every night in the summer we had our own fireworks show in the fields and lawns around the house and barn in the form of fireflies.

Catching the fireflies in jars and then bringing them into the dark bedroom was enough fun to occupy a curious 8-year-old for hours.

Do you know what I’m talking about?

Well, maybe not. Overdevelopment, light pollution and applications of pesticides have conspired to make firefly sightings rare. The folks at www.firefly.org are worried about the mass die-off that has happened in the last generation and they have posted some pointers about what we can do to help the glowing wonders.

And here’s a link to an article from yesterday in Detroit that inspired this post: http://detnews.com/article/20100917/OPINION03/9170325/1038/lifestyle01/Lawn-care-pesticides-threaten-extinction-of-fireflies#ixzz0zmo0ppA0.