I matter to you because I am one of nature’s most important pest controllers. I am a hunter. I hunt the spiders that terrify you in the rainforests of Northern Australia. In the endless savannahs of Africa, I feast on the flies that carry your diseases. In the peppered meadows of England, I hunt the bugs that suck the phloem from the flowers you so admire. I matter because without me, wherever you are in the world, you may be beset with plagues of flies, armies of spiders, teaming masses of locusts, caterpillars, grasshoppers, flies, flies, flies. And for you, the suburban dweller, I am your backyard’s housekeeper: I pluck the aphids as they siphon the life from your tomato plant; I hunt the caterpillars as they devour your garden crops.
I matter to you, the crop farmer, especially in Africa, Asia, Latin America. I am part of your solution to providing food for your family, your livelihood. You may not know this yet: I am your route to sustainable agriculture. You know that those chemicals you spray on your crops are bad both for your own health and for nature’s; an indiscriminate chemical death sentence – slow or fast – for the little things that run the world. I understand, this is survival: your family, your children need that crop to grow, not to be gnarled and withered away by a worm-like caterpillar. I can help. I do help when you turn away and don’t notice me. Let me do my work: let me pluck those juicy worms from your crops. Let me feed my babies so you can feed yours. I help when I am incognito; living alongside you, among you, undiscovered. If you find me, you kill me. I understand why. Next time: don’t! Let my kind live: we’re on your side. Work with us, not against us. Use us. It’s a win-win. A mutualism of the Anthropocene.
