Here in the U.S. I miss all the hustle and bustle of the many insects that visit my Austrian country house every year. So far, I have only seen three brimstone butterflies, as well as a few bees and wasps. But I’ve come across lots and lots of mowers. If I ever thought that grass couldn’t be cut any shorter, Americans taught me otherwise. I feel like as soon as the first flower cautiously dares to grow, the mower is brought out, and since people are at it, they cut the rest of their lawn too.

To be fair though: if my mom moved here, nobody would notice that she was from abroad. Like Americans, she mows and mows and mows. I think she secretly fears the day when I will take over the maintenance of our country house because I won’t mow as much as her. Despite all her mowing, however, our property is a little paradise on Earth. My mom ensures to leave certain places for wildflowers to grow. In addition, she has an herb garden with lavender, thyme, mint, chives, rosemary — um, I can’t remember them all. She also has white and purple lilac, as well as a gorgeous hibiscus. In the summer, I often watch the bumblebees land on the hibiscus flowers and their cute butts disappear inside. When they come out, they are covered in dust as they buzz over to the next bud. It makes me so incredibly happy. Not to mention the numerous butterflies and bees that visit us every year. There’s constant humming and buzzing, and it amazes me every time how well they manage to share all the nectar between them. Last year we even had a hummingbird hawk-moth! Their wings make around 85 beats per second, which is about 35 beats more than what hummingbirds can do.

It’s easy to be disgusted by insects that aren’t as cute as bumblebees or as thrilling as hummingbird hawk-moths. As a college student, I spent some weeks at Wuhan University in China. I had a dorm room to myself, but never opened any of its drawers, because one of my classmates had found cockroaches in theirs. While I never encountered one of them in my room, I’m not exaggerating when saying that they were crawling over my hands at the internet cafe where I typed emails to my family. None of the Chinese customers seemed to mind, and I eventually got used to my new friends.

Although cockroaches can cause allergies in some people, they are actually completely harmless. In fact, most insect species in our homes are harmless. Many of them just aren’t very pretty to look at, and we associate them with being unclean and with bringing germs into our home. As a result, we tend to kill them, ignoring the fact that the chemicals we use are typically not healthy for us either.

There are about one million identified insect species on our planet. Up to seven million are still waiting to be discovered. Insects have been around for over 650 million years and are necessary for our Earth’s health. Most ecosystems simply wouldn’t work without them. Insects are the ones who connect plants, fungi, microbes and nonhuman animals with each other. They not only pollinate over 80% of our crops worldwide, but they also clean up for us, be it dead bodies, manure, or sewer water; they aerate soil, provide nutrients and disperse seeds; and in modern medicine maggots even remove dead tissue and disinfect wounds. All those helpful insects do their jobs so quietly that most of us don’t even realize what wonderful work they are doing for us.

All across the globe, even in the tropical forest, insect numbers have been decreasing at a most alarming rate. The reasons are manifold: temperature shifts, weather extremes, microplastics in their stomachs, loss of habitat, industrialized agriculture, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, pollution, artificial lights and too much noise. In moths, too much artificial light negatively impacts their breeding, feeding and moving. Because insects, such as grasshoppers and crickets, communicate through sound, they are highly sensitive to it. Too much noise disturbs their behavior, development and bodily functions.

If I had a free wish, I’d wish for us humans to give insects the respect they deserve for everything they do for us. If you find a worm in your lettuce, or if you spot a spider in your house, take the little fellows outside. If you have an ant colony inside like I once did, consider persuading them with lavender scent to move out instead of killing them. Position your night lights low, or use a motion sensor or solar lights, which are cheap and emit a soft light. Restrain your urge to mow right now and allow spring to fully awaken. Make sure to leave a small area on your property untouched and allow some weeds and fallen leaves to stay. Plant different native herbs and flowers that bloom at different times for different insects. Welcome some ivy, which provides great shelter and winter food for many insects. Leave dark spaces in your yard and have some water for birds to drink and bathe in the hot summer months. Put some flowers on your porch or window ledge. And then sit down in your little paradise and enjoy the bustling and diverse life around you.

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Dr. Daniela Ribitsch, a native of Austria, is a resident of Lock Haven.