A terrific book…A thoughtful explanation of how the dramatic decline of insect species and numbers poses a dire threat to all life on earth." (Booklist, Starred Review)In the tradition of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking environmental classic Silent Spring, an award-winning entomologist and conservationist explains the importance of insects to our survival, and offers a clarion call to avoid a looming ecological disaster of our own making. Drawing on thirty years of research, Goulson has written an accessible, fascinating, and important book that examines the evidence of an alarming drop in insect numbers around the world. "If we lose the insects, then everything is going to collapse, " he warned in a recent interview in the New York Times-beginning with human's food supply. The main cause of this decrease in insect populations is the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides. Hence, Silent Earth's nod to Rachel Carson's classic Silent Spring which, when published in 1962, led to the global banning of Ddt. This was a huge victory for science and ecological health at the time. Yet before long, new pesticides just as lethal as Ddt were introduced, and today, humanity finds itself on the brink of a new crisis. What will happen when the bugs are all gone? Goulson explores the intrinsic connection between climate change, nature, wildlife, and the shrinking biodiversity.