Flower long-horn beetle, flower chafer, red palm weevil, and jewel beetle
YOU HAVE PROBABLY never heard of Robert Van der Bosch. Entomological scientists do not usually make a lot of headlines. A “bug” professor at the University of California Berkeley, Dr. Van der Bosch became one of the early pioneers of the field of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) – and he made quite a few enemies in the process. IPM is an agricultural method that incorporates a multitude of strategies for pest control, of which pesticide use is but one tine of a multipronged pitchfork.
THE MAKING OF AN ECO-LIBERAL
The IPM model did not go over well with the pesticide chemical making companies and their salesmen, or even some of the scientists whose labs were supported by their large corporate grants. In 1978 Dr. Van der Bosch published a book entitled The Pesticide Conspiracy, a scathing exposé and critique of agricultural industry corporations, the public officials responsible to overlook them, and the land grant universities they held sway over. He took an unyielding stance against those who threatened his cherished ideals of the beauty and balance of Nature; undergoing a personal transformation from quiet scientist to tenacious street fighter.
The professor’s adversaries believed that chemical management was the cheapest, fastest, and one-and-only method for pest control. They did not appreciate pesky non-believers throwing dirt at their gospel, and they went to great lengths to discredit Dr. Van der Bosch and his reputation.
The fight would not last long. The fiery professor died of a heart attack shortly after his book was published. Like that of Rachel Carson who died before him, the void left by his silenced voice allowed the pesticide agenda to advance much more easily.
Robert Van der Bosch’s career was as a combatant against insects that devour or damage human crops. His own particular specialty was the use of natural predation, capitalizing on the idea that bugs are often their own worst enemies, and they will usually keep one another’s numbers in check.
The professor’s battle cry was essentially one seldom heard in war: “We Cannot Win!”
Here is the matchup of bugs vs. humans:
1. Estimated Population: 10 quintillion (a 1 followed by 17 zeros) of them vs 7 billion of us.
2. Experience: 300 million years on the planet for them vs. 2 million years for us.
3. Diversity: 1 million species for them vs. one species for us.
4. Reproductive capability: Up to 150 million eggs for them vs. a few children for us.
5. Generation cycling: Up to one generation/week for them vs. one generation/20 years for us.
Van der Bosch argued that insects have incredible genetic plasticity (as do plants) and can quickly mutate, evolve, and adapt to environmental opportunity or adversity. He noted that they have held their own against cataclysmal geological, climatic and biological changes over a vast expanse of time. In just a few decades they have evolved to become resistant to many of our insecticides and herbicides. If they could, they would be laughing at the pure absurdity of our plans to control them. Insects can take whatever we throw at them. If we are not careful, our weapons will cause more harm to us than them.
New insect problems are often created by the use of insecticides, which necessitate the use of even greater amounts of insecticide – a scenario Van der Bosch dubbed “the pesticide treadmill.” All the while the damage to the Earth continues to mount. The professor noted that from the mid-1940’s to the mid-1970’s insecticide use went up 11-fold, while preharvest destruction of crops by insects also increased from 7% to 13% in the same time period.
Dr. Van Der Bosch was not militantly against the use of all pesticides. To the contrary, he did not believe that modern agriculture could flourish without the prudent measured use of insecticides; utilized in conjunction with other IPM measures.
Robert Van der Bosch believed that there is a balance in Nature – and he was right. If it is our goal to realize sustainable global happiness we must maintain that balance. We must closely emulate patterns that have been developed and honed over a 14-billion-year time span; integrating ourselves as seamlessly as possible into this incredibly beautiful and interwoven universe of ours.
Next time: "IT'S ALL CONNECTED"