I wish people would stop killing all the insects. We've kicked the bottom out of the food chain, and no one seems to have noticed. I've seen populations tank over the last two decades, even year by year.

Summer before last, when I took the kids to the creek we'd have to start a smoky fire to keep the mosquitoes and flies off. Didn't bother this year, not once. Went hiking yesterday and only had 2 mosquitoes annoy me. Y'all, that creek is surrounded by swamp. Saw a few frogs, zero fish, not even minnows.

September in NW Florida has always meant a lovebug invasion. They were so bad when I moved here that natives advised me to wash my car a couple of times that month because their guts would eat clear coat. Last year I saw a few dozen couples, stuck butt-to-butt (hence the name) in my driveway. The month is all but over and I've not seen a single one. Not fucking one.

Five years ago I'd count the tree frogs and salamanders on my front porch. I leave the porch lights on 24/7, so free food for amphibian friends. Haven't seen either animal in 3 years. Used to have to spray the bug guts off the lights several times in the spring and summer. Just looked, they're fairly clean, haven't sprayed them for over a year.

For context, I'm on the bleeding edge of town. I can walk 10 minutes and be into hundreds of acres of forest and swamp. This ain't the middle of the city from which I'm observing these events.

Nothing else makes me so internally panicked. Rise of fascism? Historical trend, it's here, someday it will be gone. Global warming? Not so immediate, not seeing clear and deniable changes year to year, not so much up in my grill. My planet is dying, I'm scared shitless, and no one even notices.