Pope Francis Slams GMOs and Pesticides for Destroying the Earth's 'Complex Web of Ecosystems'

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22. He is correct about how pesticides and Round Up destroy the web

When we first got our farm, we were stupid. We used pesticides and bags of fertilizers. We sprayed Round Up and other chemicals.Then we started reading. That was about 15 years ago.

When we stopped using all those poisons, at first the insects were worse. We got every bug in the world eating our vegtables. We had waves of stink bugs, Colorado beetles, cucumber beetles and green caterpillars everywhere. But after 2 years, the onslaught died down and the birds started visiting regularly. I think what happened was that the chemicals killed every bug, which caused the birds to leave, then the area was cleared for the bad bugs to come in swarms making them more difficult to kill. A less determined person would have gone back to using chemicals but we stuck it out and cut back on growing the more delicate vegtables. Now, 15 years after giving up chemicals, we can grow just about anything with very little insect damage and now we have just about every bird in the area come by for a snack.

I think when you first give up chemicals there is a rebound affect that takes years before things go back to equilibrium. The chemicals disrupt the natural cycles. But it really is worth sticking out the bad years. The beauty of getting the birds back alone is worth the problems of the waves of destructive insects.