<story><title>Scientists find there are 70% fewer pollinators, due to air pollution</title><url>https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/pollination-air-pollution/127964/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>blakesterz</author><text>It seems there are far fewer bugs in general.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Decline_in_insect_populations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Decline_in_insect_populations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, remember when you would drive any distance on a freeway and your windshield was just COVERED with smashed bugs?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>varenc</author><text>While insect population decline seems the primary cause, windshields are also more sloped and aerodynamic now. I suspect more bugs bounce off these instead of being splattered.&lt;p&gt;My one data point is that on a 2-hour rural drive with a friend my 90s SUV’s windshield and front bumper splattered a lot of bugs. While my friend’s sleeker more modern car with a sloped windshield had barely any.</text></comment>
<story><title>Scientists find there are 70% fewer pollinators, due to air pollution</title><url>https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/pollination-air-pollution/127964/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>blakesterz</author><text>It seems there are far fewer bugs in general.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Decline_in_insect_populations&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Decline_in_insect_populations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anecdotally, remember when you would drive any distance on a freeway and your windshield was just COVERED with smashed bugs?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mcbutterbunz</author><text>&amp;gt; Anecdotally, remember when you would drive any distance on a freeway and your windshield was just COVERED with smashed bugs?&lt;p&gt;I do, now that you mention it. It&amp;#x27;s weird how much we don&amp;#x27;t notice those small changes. I remember I used to see Monarch butterflies all the time, as a child, and I, until this last year, would never see any in the wild.</text></comment>