Or Pollinator Profusion?

Tuesday, November 12, 6:00 pm

Zoom: <https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89557626885?pwd=UhcrDiTruOW0PrE8ozdjzFDfhpU2PM.1>

When was the last time you had to wash your windshield at least once a week? What happened to all the butterflies we used to see? Do you remember when the night air was filled with moths and the sounds of crickets? “Something’s happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” (Buffalo Springfield).

Alarming headlines proclaim the “insect apocalypse,” and many scientists and others announce the need for changes to avoid great peril. On the other hand, many studies report no change or uncertain conclusions. For Sustainable Tucson’s November Sustainability Spotlight program, entomologist Dr. Kenneth Kingsley will review what is known and not known about the “Insect Crisis.” He’ll explain the reasons why YOU should care and what you can do.

We’ll then look into what we can do locally to support insects and other important pollinators that bring beauty to our world and also are so crucial to our future food supply. Robin Motzer, chair of Sustainable Tucson’s Habitat Restoration Committee, will describe the committee’s mission and its work planting pollinator gardens, outlining why they are valuable neighborhood features and looking ahead to planned efforts for more pollinator gardens. We’ll then hear from Lauren Jankowski, currently an intern with AZ Game and Fish Department in the small mammal program, who was grant coauthor and a project manager for the Pollinator Equity Project (PEP). She will give an overview of PEP, its goals and objectives, and a look at what’s going on in the Project’s pollinator garden. Both will indicate how interested folks can get involved.

Kenneth J. Kingsley, Ph.D. Dr. Kingsley earned his Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of Arizona in 1985. His career has combined conservation biology and integrated pest management as a consultant for private industry and government agencies from local to national. He has had an adventurous career exploring wildlife and plants in a range of habitats from Hawaiian burial caves to mountain tops in Nevada. He has worked in 11 National Parks and 10 states, under water, in deserts, riparian woodlands, and in mountain talus fields. He has conducted surveys for organisms ranging from bacteria to bighorn sheep. His work has led him to the understanding that people have made a terrible mess of things, but that we can change and make the world safe for ourselves and most other living beings.