On this Earth Day 2015…

Let us consider the importance of insects.

E. O. Wilson is our nation’s preeminent scientist.  Now in his 80’s and Professor Emeritus at Harvard, he has spent his career studying the social behavior of ants….but with a truly impressive knowledge of both the sciences and humanities…his keen and compassionate mind also offers us insights into the nature of that other successful social animal…Homo sapiens.  His most recent book is boldly titled The Meaning of Human Existence and it is a good read.

We do well to listen to Wilson when he points out that humans are relative newcomers to the planet.  Insects arrived on the scene about 400 million years ago…we’ve been around about 2 million years.

“Insects can thrive without us, but we and most other land organisms would perish without them.”

E.O.Wilson in The Diversity of Life

In fact…if insects somehow disappeared…