>But finally, there are plenty of foods that we could eat, we could live
for centuries without animal pollinated crops.

Perhaps some humans could, but we should keep in mind that there is a
reason why evolution has strongly favored insect-pollinated flowering
plants.  Without insect pollinators, many plant species would be severely
harmed, if not given a death sentence.  And any other species dependent
upon those plants would also be affected.

And although the extinction of all pollinators is a remote possibility, the
extinction of some important pollinators is a very real possibility.  And
even the diminution of pollinator populations or species diversity is a
real concern, ecologically speaking.

Although the apocryphal quote from Einstein is clearly a scare tactic, that
doesn't mean that we shouldn't be concerned about human impact upon
pollinator populations.

>They find a whole lot less bugs than they remember from some years back.

Although this observed phenomenon likely is affected by insecticides, I
suspect that it is even more influenced by the increasing efficiency of
large-scale agriculture in growing fencepost-to-fencepost monocultures free
of any other plant species.  A lack of diversity of habitats and plant
species will result in a loss of both diversity and sheer numbers of insect
populations.

When visiting the Midwest, some beekeepers pointed out to me that they
weren't seeing some of the butterfly species that they used to see.  My
question was whether that was due to insecticides, or the elimination of
the butterfly host plants (both for the larval and adult stages).  For
example, the Monarch requires both milkweed for the larvae, and nectar
sources for the adults (Monarch nectar plants
<http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/best-nectar-plants-for-monarchs-and-other-butterflies.html>).
Fields of corn or soy provide neither.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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