‘Like an Umbrella Had Covered the Sky’: Locust Swarms Despoil Kenya

With three wives and 17 children, his dozens of cows, goats, sheep and camels ...” No country can sustain population growth like this.

Swarms of millions of locusts in Africa, coronavirus/Captain Trips in China, 65 degrees in Antarctica, and US democracy is under attack from within. Don't take anything for granted.

NPR has been reporting on this swarm for some time now. The Plague Of Locusts Might Be Controlled By Farming Practices : Goats and Soda https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/08/19/752361368/maybe-the-way-to-control-locusts-is-by-growing-crops-they-dont-like Sent from NPR One. Download now: https://read.nprone.app/download The BBC also reported this last year. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50345204 They could have been stopped in Yemen, where the first reports came from. Unfortunately, Yemen is at war and not able to deal with a locust infestation that was predicted to grow and travel to other countries. This was preventable. If only we had a world-wide organization capable of monitoring, assessing, and responding.

Well, you know that one of the four horses of the apocalypse is famine. Read about it. It is the black horse, I think. "... And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine..." The seals have been opened for a long while. Judgment upon sin.

“Their swarms, which can contain as many as 80 million locust adults in each square kilometer, eat the same amount of food daily as about 35,000 people.” 80 million locusts can also feed a million people. Fried in oil, I ate them like potato chips when I lived in Thailand in the 90’s...delicious, and full of protein.

People have been eating them since biblical times. One could see this as an opportunity for mega tons of free protein. If we make locust the new shrimp it could be a new must have dish at restaurants. If people are still too picky, it could be less toxic fish food for fish farmers than many sources.

I wouldn't necessarily say "eat" the locusts, but it seems that mesh netting should be able to trap quite a few of the beasts. They could then be mushed up into fertilizer, chicken feed, or some other useful product. Of course, that presumes sufficient interest and capital are available to arrange for the nets, etc.

The spraying of pesticides is going to decimate all the other insects that are a vital part of their ecosystems. It would be better to just send international aid until this natural event comes to it's natural conclusion.

I wonder if they could use smoke to pacify or disturb the insects.

Poor Kenya, Poor Africa. At the end of the day, the poor would always the ones who suffered from the problem created by all of us - Climate Change. The International Community needs to act NOW to help Kenya, help Africa.

Downright biblical! Straight out of a Cecil B. DeMille epic. In the next scene, Charlton Heston will appear in a fake beard and flowing robes to part the waters of the Red Sea. At this rate, no special effects will be required.

I read this article with all sorts of conflicting thoughts: 1. Locust swarms have been recorded since ancient times. Are they part of the natural balance (as is fire) and have we cultivated too much land to support a population that is already unsustainable? According to wikipedia, Kenya has lost 40% of its forest since the 1960s. It sounds like climate change is a serious exacerbating factor, but I imagine it is not the only one. 2. I worry about spraying for a lot of reasons. In addition to the water supply, what effect does that have on the rest of the insect population? We already know that many insect populations are collapsing, and that will affect the entire food chain. Will that actually create more problems for the people and animals down the line? I just worry the cure could be worse than the disease. That is not unprecedented.

I'm happy to see Dr. Arianne Cease quoted in the article; she's an amazing woman, scientist, and humanitarian. I was fortunate to interview and write a blog post on her after the Global Climate Action Summit in 2018. https://paulaonpoint.com/2018/10/16/a-scientist-circles-back-to-the-farm/#more-288

I am so glad they spun this into "It's climate change's (thus man's) fault because now I understand what must have happened in Biblical times. Did they have coal-fired power plants then?

The locusts will last as long as their food source lasts. Population always equals food. In this case, beating them back with sticks is not going to work any more than aerial spraying pesticides. When the food is gone, the locusts will die off or move onto greener pastures. Sadly, the herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores will struggle to find food in their wake. And those who suffer this pestilence will need to rely on the capitalist economy to figure out how to profit off feeding them.

As a kid growing up in the early sixties in Kenya, the sky would darken and swam of locusts would come no where like the 80 million talked about today. They would strip the everything bare, and then be gone to another place to do the same. So this is not a new thing just bigger with the effects of climate change. To the point of "eat them" the other one that would happen is the flying ants that would leave their mounds, there people would set up make shift grills, gather them and turn them into the best dinner every! but nowhere near the swam of locusts that just descend with the the sole goal of eating every thing green!

And you can’t spray pesticides on them with planes because “these chemicals are not safe to humans.” Next thing some politician says “the locust are now old and not harmful.”

Is this another tipping point no one is talking about? What if these locusts, or insects like them, should threaten crops in Western countries, what would our response be?

An unexpected swarm of 80 million locusts sweeps in and you want people to eat them. How should they catch them? With their hands? With their shirts? That's like telling people sitting on their roofs during a flash flood to "just drink the water". And two days later when the bugs and all of the crops are gone, what do they eat then?

Bloomberg should stop sending me junk mail and instead use the postage money to buy the pesticide needed to protect the millions of people affected by this. Couch cushion money. Or Bezos. Seriously.

Human greed is bringing us disasters of literally biblical proportions and it will only get worse. Our leaders are not hearing the warning. Mother Nature has had it with us.

Welcome to climate change. This is but one small example of how human-induced environmental devastation is going to affect the entire world, including the United States - a cataclysm gathering momentum that our ruling party and fake President continue to pretend doesn’t exist. This may seem far away, but it really isn’t; major swaths of our own country are already feeling the effects. This is the existential problem that will occupy the rest of our lives, and our children’s’ and grandchildrens’. Better elect some leaders who will do something about it.

“The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization made a $76 million appeal to member states for funding to control the locusts’ spread in the Horn of Africa. So far, the United Nations body said, only around $20 million has been received — threatening efforts to curtail a regional plague that could lead to more suffering, displacement and potential conflict.” And Michael Bloomberg, with an estimated worth of $56 billion, spent $220 million dollars in Jan. , Steyer $47 million of his $1.6 billion. How many lives could be saved, how much suffering averted, wars prevented, if billionaires paid their fair share in taxes, money was equitably redistributed and spent on humanitarian aid rather than self-promotion.

We are all watching a bomb dropping and have the ability to stop it,but not the will Whether or not these locusts are another expression of climate change will not change the minds and self interest that we need to stop this bomb The locusts do not recognize national boundaries,but like climate change they keep going. The locusts have been moving across Africa and will be heading into the Arabian peninsula If they persist into the rainy season then the problem will be worse

$76 million? that's it. And the PLO gets about a billion from the UN; but people starving to death in Africa, that's all they get. Where's the priority here?

“abnormally heavy rains were caused by the Indian Ocean dipole, a phenomenon heightened by “the continuous warming of the western part of the Indian Ocean due to climate change,” There are so many things going wrong with climate change it looks like it’s going to get very bad.

Raging fires in Australia. Coronavirus in Asia. Locusts in Africa. Droughts everywhere. Sound familiar?

"desert locusts can develop the wings they need to swarm across seas and continents with the help of warm temperatures and the right amount of rain to grow the plants they need for food. The abnormally heavy rains were caused by the Indian Ocean dipole, a phenomenon heightened by “the continuous warming of the western part of the Indian Ocean due to climate change” Rising temperatures also mean locusts can mature more quickly and spread to higher elevation environments. Given that many locusts are adapted to arid regions, if climate change expands the geographic extent of these lands, locusts could expand their range as well. “Therefore, in general, locust outbreaks are expected to become more frequent and severe under climate change,” said Arianne Cease, director of the Global Locust Initiative at Arizona State University. Heckuva job, Gas Oil Petroleum. Time to take our feet off the GOP global warming accelerator and transition to solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, biomass, and battery storage energy technologies. We have only one Mother Earth. Let's stop beating her up.

It's astounding to me that so many comments here are like, "Eat the locusts!" which is a VERY short-term solution at best, instead of talking about climate change. But glad that in our dystopian future, the good people of Texas and Oregon who are commenting won't be bothered by food chains being disrupted because they'll be willing to forego meat and vegetables to eat locusts all the time.

In the documentary, The Biggest Little Farm, they dealt with a snail infestation by letting their ducks eat them. Is there an animal that would eat them that they bring in to help with the problem? What animal eats locusts? (besides the areas of human consumption)

Comments are disheartening: “Let them eat locusts”, while we continue to dine on the steak and organic produce of our choice.

This will be just the beginning of climate change refugees. And it won’t be pretty in today’s political environment.

Why isn't the effect of pesticides on non-human species described? Isn't that relevant?

We had locusts swarming here in Yucatan for a few weeks last year. Those of you typing "Catch 'em and eat 'em" have not tried to be out there in their midst. Trust me; you can't do ANYTHING! And the swarm hits incredibly fast. One more thing: if the area is agricultural and crops are sprayed, the locusts are ingesting those fresh chemicals. You want to eat that?

Fire, plague and pestilence. Seems like The Apocalypse is happening on schedule. Cue famine and war.

From the comments section its clear we have loads of helpful citizens eager to eat the bugs.

For the diet conscious, the locusts represent a lot of protein on the wing.

What are locusts natural predators? I just read the China is deploying an army of ducks to mitigate risks along the Chinese border.

Re today's plague of desert locusts in Kenya, food security in third world countries is a myth. That industrialized countries waste, discard, throw away leftover food to the tune of 1/3 of edible produce is the truth. Locusts are an ancient plague that bedeviled Africa during the time of the pharoahs and the reign of Moses and today. Which is worse, famine or drought? Disease or war? Let us count the ways life on earth is winnowing away our human and animal population.

My goodness, how terrifying and awful. That picture of Mwikali Nzoka and her devastated farm hurts my heart.

Soon it will be the Day of the Locust for all humankind. The way we’ve trashed our environment and then lied about it, will mean a race to whether we all demise by insects, disease or heat.

The world needs to step up assistance. What a horror. And don't think if we don't stop them there they won't end up here. Where would you rather fight this scourge? Will we wait til they are at our doors?

Can locusts be processed as a source of food protein, like grasshoppers?

I'd like to address the predictable fear of God that comes with plagues such as this. You may find it different. To those who are unaware or uninclined to believe the science, it is important that you not imagine that God has sent a Plague to harm you. God does not harm that which he creates. Many plagues have been foretold by seers or prophets. It's a gift to warn, not harm. The Locust problem is a result of man's disruption of nature, vastly more innocent by a lack of knowledge, but now scandalously denied by those who would suffer economic hardship as a result. Man does put a price on lives and cynically calculates whether or not to care based on their wallets. That the U.N. spent so much to appeal for help and received but a fraction is alarming. For Millennia, most of humanity has endured hardships they coalesced to resolve. In recent years that caring for each other has suffered grievous apathy. Indeed, this is global warming at work and faced with an evil corporate culture that is willing to see a mass die off of humanity not only to assure continued profits, but sinisterly to calculate how much more enriched they will become with lower poor populations encumbering them with necessary taxes. The cynical will suffer just as the Egyptions of Moses did. But for now because of their sinning, we all must take responsibility for our own fuels consumption and seriously reduce them in a concert of efforts that will seriously decline fuels use. We are the cause, not God.

The good news is these pests are loaded with protein, and can be eaten. A couple years ago we stopped at a roadside market in Cambodia where I saw a lady selling crispy insects. I bought some and I have to say they were very tasty. Most likely locusts could be eaten too.

Why don’t they eat the locusts instead of spraying them with pesticides? If cricket protein is such a viable trendy food source, locusts must be similar.

Climate change will exacerbate this problem - another consequence of our inaction thus far. How successfully will mankind cope with all the consequences of climate change? Only an international effort of extreme efforts will reverse these changes. How many will die before the eventual turn-around? The loss of life will mean lower CO2 emissions, will we be able to rally an effort that beats that timeline?