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Comment by rootusrootus | Hacker News Reader

Sometimes I don't know what to believe. Wasn't there a counterpoint posted here on HN a while back?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24133315

Without the full article it's tough to say, but my refute would be about my local environment. There has absolutely been a MASSIVE decline in NATIVE insects (among other things). Instead we have more asian beetles, emerald ash borers, and japanese beetles than you can shake a stick at. So while yes, technically the numbers may remain neutral, I'm not sure we can call it a healthy distribution.

> my refute would be about my local environment

Is it an urban environment? Most people's environments isn't a reasonable reference.

That would be spread across a residence outside of the city, one inside city limits, and a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

The only insect I'm aware of that seems to still be in full force that is native are mosquitos. Dragonflies, lightning bugs, lady bugs, moths, butterflies, etc. are sadly all rare sightings.

No disrespect, but I'd feel more comfortable if the rebuttal was based on science and not an individual anecdote from some unknown individual on HN :)

No disrespect taken. There are countless studies backing up the finding of insect decline. I was simply throwing out a hypothesis of how someone could claim otherwise - they simply aren't measuring the appropriate way and/or they aren't accurately representing their results.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/studies-c... https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/studies-c...

And with the global greening trend too... https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3004

The New Yorker doesn't read HN.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/th...

This was actually the article that put HN on my radar and brought me here.

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