Of the three types of parasite

There are many kinds of parasite, but ultimately they boil down to three: 

1. Those that develop a symbiotic relationship with their host (like the bacteria that helps us digest our food)
2. Those that annoy their host (like bedbugs)
3. Those that kill their host...

Although these are not evolutionary stages (it would be the opposite of evolution if they were), human beings seem to have followed that trajectory. They started off by living natural lives (one could say in harmony with the earth); moved on to stressing mother nature and finally, they settled on a course of action that will ultimately destroy enough of the ecosystem to guarantee the extinction of the human race. 

                                     

We are destroying the balance of nature in more ways than one: climate change, weapons of mass destruction, deforestation, pollution, pesticides... The earth is facing its sixth mass extinction. The statistics are shocking, but sadly, the will to do anything about it is confined to a few Cassandras. Some, like Trump, actually mock the science; his Tweets are full of ridicule towards these serious issues, but whether you mock them or not, unless drastic action is taken to reverse the trend, we are well and truly DOOMED! 

This week, a report published in the journal, Biological Conversation, highlighted the crisis of plummeting insect numbers. For the moment the decline is staggered. In Puerto Rico, for instance the there has been a 98% fall of ground insects over 35 years. Overall, insect populations are falling by 2.5% a year, meaning that they could all be gone within a century. One does not have to be an expert to realise that this will be the last blow to our ecosystem. Whether you love them of hate them, insects are the most fascinating and varied creatures on earth... Still, the good news is that when they go, we shall not have long to mourn them.