this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
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This was the first year I didn't see any fireflies (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by TootSweet@lemmy.world to c/justpost@lemmy.world
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Ok. Slight lie. I saw one firefly. It was early in the season and in broad daylight, so not when it should have been blinking. But it was a firefly.

But this year is the first that I haven't seen a single firefly light up. And it's late enough in the season now that I doubt I'll see one before the snow falls.

The planet is fucked, folks. Not that I didn't already know this. The weather has been steadily more severe over the last few years. And hotter. And you steadily hear news about icebergs this and ice shelves that and more hot-habitat species moving further from the equator as the climate warms.

But not a single firefly fireflying? In my area? That's a qualitative shift that has more impact on my outlook than just the abstract knowledge that we're killing the planet and the slow progression of a few known trends.

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[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

No fireflies where I grew up (western Canada). But I have been suspecting the same thing for many years, due to the fact that grasshoppers are now rare where I grew up in summer, and after a drive across Alberta to the west coast of BC (over 12 hours of highway), I can look at the front of my vehicle and see barely any dead bugs. When I was a kid a car would be absolutely plastered with bugs on any trip of such a length. There are just many, many fewer insects these days. And when insects diminish, the food chain all the way up must be suffering.

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

'Sup?

[–] SugarCatDestroyer@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

In such cases, I recommend watching the film "Blade Runner 2049", it accurately shows what we will come to.

[–] Kalothar@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Huh where I live in Ohio, I saw the most I’ve seen in the last few years

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

My cousin came to visit me (Northern California) from Southern California and asked how I keep my car so clean and free of smashed bugs. I’d forgotten about how car bugs were a thing.. I literally can’t remember the last time I had to clean a bug off my car.

I live in an agricultural area so I’m guessing it’s pesticides.

I guess SoCal still has bugs though. And boy do I ever have leaf eating beetles in my garden.