Adolf Menzel (1815 – 1905)
It tried to get from out the cage;
Here and there it ran, and tried
At the edges and the side,
In a busy, timid rage.
Trying yet to find the key
Into freedom, trying yet,
In a timid rage to get
To its old tranquillity.
It did not know, it did not see,
It did not turn an eye, or care
That a man was watching there
While it raged so timidly.
It ran without a sound, it tried,
In a busy, timid rage,
To escape from out the cage
By the edges and the side.
James Stephens (1882 – 1950)
“an inoffensive race; born to pass thro’ their little stage of being, the prey to a thousand enemies; but hurtful to no creature”
John Hill (1714?-1775)
from A Decade of Curious Insects
Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932)
Jan Sepp (1739-1811)
Monarch butterflies need milkweed. It is the only plant they can lay their eggs on and that the caterpillars can eat.
But the combination of genetically engineered corn and soy and weed killers like Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide has wiped out nearly all the milkweed that used to grow along the monarchs’ migratory routes, leaving the butterflies nowhere to lay their eggs
Every fall, for thousands of years, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies have taken to the skies, flying more than 2,500 miles across Canada and the U.S. to reach their winter home in the thick forests of tall oyamel fir trees that grow in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains.
This winter, only 33.5 million butterflies made it to Mexico – the lowest level ever reported.
Like honey bees and other pollinators, monarch butterflies are now in crisis, with populations plummeting dramatically since the introduction of herbicide-ready corn and soybean crops in 1997.
They may disappear. Soon.
The huge increase in the usage of GMO crops and the toxic herbicides like Monsanto’s Roundup that accompany them is a major culprit for the monarch’s disappearance, along with rapid deforestation in Mexico and extreme weather caused by climate chaos.
The world needs monarch butterflies. But they can’t survive without milkweed. And milkweed can’t survive weed-killing chemicals . . .
Tell the USDA and the EPA to adopt tough restrictions on pesticide-resistant crops and the toxic herbicides responsible for the rapid disappearance of monarchs.
Go, smiling souls, your new-built cages break,
In heaven you’ll learn to sing, ere here to speak,