‘The insect apocalypse is here’: A conversation on climate change

Scientific journalist Brooke Jarvis held a conversation about ecological issues in Brown Auditorium on Oct. 2.

Brooke Jarvis is an award-winning reporter for various publishers, including the New York Times and The New Yorker. Some of her pieces focus on ecological issues such as the extinction of the American Sphinx, Tasmanian Tiger and the topic of the event’s discussion: insects.

“It’s pretty shocking the disconnect between the importance of having a functional ecological system, which underlies every little thing about our lives and our ability to survive, the disconnect between that and how much attention we pay to it,” Jarvis said. “Its remarkable. To me, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

In 2018, Jarvis published her article “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here” which highlighted the German research behind the declining insect population, stating that “the overall abundance of flying insects in German nature reserves had decreased by 75% over just 27 years.”

Jarvis said the reason behind the decline is due to pesticide usage and habitat destruction, but there is still so much about the insect decline that hasn’t been discovered yet. Either way, the loss of insects will eventually affect our ecosystem and cause serious damage to our society.

Jarvis came across this study in Germany and decided to build a bigger story to back it up.

“I wanted to write something that was longer and more in depth and more immersive to really encourage people to sit with these declines and think about all that they meant,” Jarvis said. “I was also intrigued by a lot of related issues about how hard it is to see when the world around us changes and who it is that pays attention to those changes and brings them to the attention of rest of us.”

English Professor, Kevin O’Donnell, hosted this event and interviewed Jarvis onstage to discuss her thoughts on climate change. O’Donnell came across her insect article last November, and the research astounded him.

“I can remember when I was a kid, this was like the late 70s, spending hours looking at the grill on cars because there’d be so many different bugs, and I was fascinated,” O’Donnell said. “You don’t see that anymore. And for years I’ve been wondering, ‘Was this a weird inaccurate memory?’ And then when I read the article, I connected it.”

Among topics like this, Jarvis writes on many current events and climate change issues. Using her large platform to educate the public on issues that, otherwise, may go unnoticed.