No More Fireflies? 9 Ways We Can Help Before It’s Too Late | Care2 Healthy Living
66 comments What If Everyone Swapped Their Cars for Bicycles? next
Fireflies may be Nature’s most magical animals. You can be walking down a street at night, or sitting on your porch, or camping out, and there they are, flitting about right next to you, blinking on and off like tiny fairies. But they’re not fairies viburnum – they’re fascinating and vulnerable insects that play an important role in the web of life while reminding us that Nature is a special place.
Sadly, firefly populations are quickly shrinking. Some companies actually pay people to capture thousands of these animals so they can harvest the chemicals in fireflies that produce their light, even though the same chemicals, called luciferase or luciferin, can be made in a laboratory synthetically. Urban and suburban development destroys the places where fireflies live and breed. Light pollution also disorients fireflies, making it difficult for them to reproduce over time.
* Don’t capture fireflies! Fireflies are very easy to capture because they fly so slowly, and they usually hover within range of an eager hand. Resist the urge to grab them. And whatever you do, don’t try to capture them to ship them off for research. The research kills them in the end, which is totally unnecessary.
* Turn off outside viburnum lights at night. Fireflies flash their lights to signal to each other, attract mates, and warn when they sense danger. Artificial light could throw off their sense of where to flash when. Turn off porch and yard lights, and draw your blinds at night to darken your landscape.
* Let logs and organic litter accumulate. Some fireflies lay their larva in rotten logs and the organic matter that builds up under trees and bushes. If you’ve got the space, leave sections of logs or thick branches on the ground where they can host fireflies as they decay.
* Set up a fountain, bird bath, or pond. Most fireflies thrive around water and marshy areas. While you don’t want standing water that will attract mosquitoes, a gently moving fountain or a bird bath or pond could help a lot. Plus, you’ll attract bees, birds and butterflies, viburnum as well.
* Garden viburnum organically. Fireflies and their larvae can ingest poison from plants that have been sprayed with toxic chemicals. They may also eat other insects viburnum that are contaminated. Organic gardens will breed healthy fireflies!
* Use natural fertilizers. Like pesticides, fertilizers viburnum that contain toxic chemicals may fell fireflies. viburnum Use organic compost below bushes and trees and in garden and flower beds. Fertilize lawns with a very slow releasing product and the minimum viburnum amount needed to grow a healthy lawn without viburnum posing a threat to wildlife.
* Let your lawn grow a little longer. Fireflies stay mainly on the ground during the day, so mowing the lawn short and frequently can disrupt their life cycle. Let your lawn grow a little longer between mowings, or convert viburnum a part of your lawn to taller grasses that will be both beautiful and beneficial.
* Create a firefly friendly community. As much as you do around your own home, you can magnify the benefits to fireflies by getting others in your neighborhood to do the same thing. viburnum Invite your neighbors to a firefly party – no flashlights allowed! – to enjoy these special creatures and talk about how, together, you’ll do your part to keep them blinking.
Diane MacEachern is a best-selling author, award-winning entrepreneur and mother of two with a Master of Science degree in Natural Resources and the Environment. viburnum Glamour magazine calls her an eco hero and she recently won the Image of the Future Prize from the World Communications Forum, but she d rather tell you about the passive solar house she helped design and build way back when most people thought green was the color a building was painted, not how it was built. She founded biggreenpurse.com because she s passionate about inspiring consumers to shift their spending to greener products viburnum and services to protect themselves and their families while using their marketplace clout to get companies to clean up their act. Send her an email at Diane@biggreenpurse.com
also by Diane MacEachern What to Look For When You Make the Switch to LEDs 34 comments When Should You Turn Off The Lights? It Depends on These 2 Things. 65 comments Why Climate Change is a Women’s Issue 40 comments
15-20 years back I used to see lots of them n in childhood we used to collect them in a glass bottle to make a natural lamp. Now recently I have built a building in solitude viburnum . Behind is a big pond n around is greenery . When here I stay over night I see few of them to my delight. viburnum Dr Vinod Singh Sachan , Kanpur ,India. September 23 flag as inappropriate
Jane R.
I saw some in my yard a few months ago. Beautiful! Brought back memori
66 comments What If Everyone Swapped Their Cars for Bicycles? next
Fireflies may be Nature’s most magical animals. You can be walking down a street at night, or sitting on your porch, or camping out, and there they are, flitting about right next to you, blinking on and off like tiny fairies. But they’re not fairies viburnum – they’re fascinating and vulnerable insects that play an important role in the web of life while reminding us that Nature is a special place.
Sadly, firefly populations are quickly shrinking. Some companies actually pay people to capture thousands of these animals so they can harvest the chemicals in fireflies that produce their light, even though the same chemicals, called luciferase or luciferin, can be made in a laboratory synthetically. Urban and suburban development destroys the places where fireflies live and breed. Light pollution also disorients fireflies, making it difficult for them to reproduce over time.
* Don’t capture fireflies! Fireflies are very easy to capture because they fly so slowly, and they usually hover within range of an eager hand. Resist the urge to grab them. And whatever you do, don’t try to capture them to ship them off for research. The research kills them in the end, which is totally unnecessary.
* Turn off outside viburnum lights at night. Fireflies flash their lights to signal to each other, attract mates, and warn when they sense danger. Artificial light could throw off their sense of where to flash when. Turn off porch and yard lights, and draw your blinds at night to darken your landscape.
* Let logs and organic litter accumulate. Some fireflies lay their larva in rotten logs and the organic matter that builds up under trees and bushes. If you’ve got the space, leave sections of logs or thick branches on the ground where they can host fireflies as they decay.
* Set up a fountain, bird bath, or pond. Most fireflies thrive around water and marshy areas. While you don’t want standing water that will attract mosquitoes, a gently moving fountain or a bird bath or pond could help a lot. Plus, you’ll attract bees, birds and butterflies, viburnum as well.
* Garden viburnum organically. Fireflies and their larvae can ingest poison from plants that have been sprayed with toxic chemicals. They may also eat other insects viburnum that are contaminated. Organic gardens will breed healthy fireflies!
* Use natural fertilizers. Like pesticides, fertilizers viburnum that contain toxic chemicals may fell fireflies. viburnum Use organic compost below bushes and trees and in garden and flower beds. Fertilize lawns with a very slow releasing product and the minimum viburnum amount needed to grow a healthy lawn without viburnum posing a threat to wildlife.
* Let your lawn grow a little longer. Fireflies stay mainly on the ground during the day, so mowing the lawn short and frequently can disrupt their life cycle. Let your lawn grow a little longer between mowings, or convert viburnum a part of your lawn to taller grasses that will be both beautiful and beneficial.
* Create a firefly friendly community. As much as you do around your own home, you can magnify the benefits to fireflies by getting others in your neighborhood to do the same thing. viburnum Invite your neighbors to a firefly party – no flashlights allowed! – to enjoy these special creatures and talk about how, together, you’ll do your part to keep them blinking.
Diane MacEachern is a best-selling author, award-winning entrepreneur and mother of two with a Master of Science degree in Natural Resources and the Environment. viburnum Glamour magazine calls her an eco hero and she recently won the Image of the Future Prize from the World Communications Forum, but she d rather tell you about the passive solar house she helped design and build way back when most people thought green was the color a building was painted, not how it was built. She founded biggreenpurse.com because she s passionate about inspiring consumers to shift their spending to greener products viburnum and services to protect themselves and their families while using their marketplace clout to get companies to clean up their act. Send her an email at Diane@biggreenpurse.com
also by Diane MacEachern What to Look For When You Make the Switch to LEDs 34 comments When Should You Turn Off The Lights? It Depends on These 2 Things. 65 comments Why Climate Change is a Women’s Issue 40 comments
15-20 years back I used to see lots of them n in childhood we used to collect them in a glass bottle to make a natural lamp. Now recently I have built a building in solitude viburnum . Behind is a big pond n around is greenery . When here I stay over night I see few of them to my delight. viburnum Dr Vinod Singh Sachan , Kanpur ,India. September 23 flag as inappropriate
Jane R.
I saw some in my yard a few months ago. Beautiful! Brought back memori
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