The Locust Plague in East Africa Is Sending Us a Message, And It's Not Good News

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The coronavirus isn't the only thing plaguing East Africa. Amid a global pandemic, people in this region of the world are also contending with another "extremely serious" threat to their lives and livelihoods: locusts.

After one of the wettest years on record, these voracious insects have been gathering forces since 2019, as weather conditions allowed them to breed generation upon generation.

Swarming in the trillions, they are destroying precious pastures and crops in what is considered the worst regional locust plague in decades, from Kenya through Ethiopia and Yemen, reaching as far as parts of northern India.

While many are justifiably worried about famine and the economic fall-out of these swarms, entomologist Dino Martins sees them as a more existential warning from nature.

"As terrifying and as dramatic as they are," he told the Harvard Gazette in a recent interview, "there is a deeper message, and the message is that we are changing the environment."

Martins works at the Mpala Research Centre in northern Kenya, and he says there's no question about it: local environmental degradation, overgrazing, deforestation and the expansion of deserts are creating ideal conditions for more and more locusts to breed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-locust-plague-in-east-africa-is-sending-us-a-message-and-its-not-good-news/ar-BB16hLnV?li=BBnb7Kz

[procon]

1. And still no one is listening, let alone taking any action. nt

[bobbieinok]

2. In 1874 locusts overwhelmed farmers in the West

My greatgrandparents lived in western NE at the time. Their families had moved to eastern IA before the Civil War. After serving in the Union army, George returned home, married Lydia, and they moved to NE to take up the land-grant vets were able to get.

My gramma and her older brother were born in IA. The family moved to NE in a covered wagon and lived for some time in a sod house. Lydia never forgot how the locusts covered their fields.

Info about the 1874 locust infestation in the West and about several earlier ones can be found at history.net. Or check links on google.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. By any chance, have you read this book ?

[msongs]

3. they are edible. nt

[pscot]

5. There's a deeper message

Things are about to get biblical.