INSECTS & OUR HEALTH
C. Malcolm Beck
Garden-Ville, San Antonio, TX
Of all the millions of insect species known, only one percent are considered pests. If we truly understood the role of these so-called bad bugs, however, we wouldn’t be so quick to condemn.
Of all the living creatures on this planet, only humans have a free will to love, hate, reason and think logically. Every other living thing is programmed too only be what it is and do what it does.
If we consider ourselves to be the highest and most intelligent creatures on Earth, should not everything else, including the pest, be here to be of service and aid to us, to give us something, does something for us, to teach us something or even prevent us from doing something? If we study from this point of view, we soon discover reasons for pests. Instead we put our money and research into designing toxic ways to destroy pests. More than two billion pounds of pesticide selling for $24 billion are used each year in this country. Discovering reasons, for the existence of pests and nontoxic ways of controlling them would cut severely into the profits of this industry.
Organic gardeners and good farmers have known for years that weak, sick plants attract and can be destroyed by the pest insects and diseases. This is Nature’s law, Survival of the Fittest. The so-called bad bugs are here to cull the plants so only the best survive to produce healthy food and seed for generations to come. The ladybugs and other predators and parasitic insects are here acting as a police force to keep the plants’ culling insects in check so they can’t overdo the culling job. Science has proven this with discovery that lady beetles prefer to feed on pest insects that randomly get on healthy plants. My own research has proven that plants have an immune system, but only when plants are properly grown and are healthy.
The pests are one of the ways Nature speaks to us. They tell us when our soil is becoming weaker and our environment is getting more polluted. We must set our pride aside and listen. Nature is an infallible teacher. She has the answers. But, she doesn’t force us to listen. She doesn’t force us to learn. We have a free will. She allows us to stupidly ignore her and destroy the environment and ourselves with our pseudo-science, while we try to dominate her.
We either learn to listen and survive, or we will deteriorate to near extinction. Then, Nature can and will renew.
Sources: A lifetime of playing with bugs and studying insects and their relation to human, animal and plant life. Many books and periodic publications. Mostly a burning desire to understand why the insects exist.