6 January 2012
Austin, Texas

It seems of late I am living on a sterile planet. If you look at the photo above, you will see on the windshield, there are no smears or debris from collisions with insects. This is central Texas with all of its scorpions, fireants, stinkbugs, houseflies, fruit flies, horseflies, mosquitoes, butterflies, moths, walking sticks, preying mantises, worms, and on and on.... But I hunt now for insects and spiders, for a single spider, and don't find a one.

Which might in part explain the bird situation. For, yes, there are pigeons, and more pigeons. But birds that rely on insects to live - mockingbirds, woodpeckers, robins - where have they gone?

And why are the insects gone? Could it be that there are few wildflowers, few native plants, little rain on which their reproductive cycles depend?

It is such an unreal situation that I have assumed I am in some sort of fugue. This couldn't be really happening. Maybe I'm not the only one who has been disabled by shock.

I am writing this afternoon, this last day of Christmas. I am planting seeds of local wildflowers, a small action toward healing an unreal crisis. It is time to acknowledge this is for real. It's time to evaluate, look for solutions, and act (something many are already doing). It is time to talk.