{"id":3183,"date":"2008-07-19T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2008-07-19T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3183"},"modified":"2008-07-19T06:00:14","modified_gmt":"2008-07-19T12:00:14","slug":"twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the darkness of twilight or the soft glow before dawn, stars seem to blink and drift about in the air. While crickets chirp, cicadas croon, and various creatures scurry about, strange yellow-green speckles light up the night. What you are witnessing is no choreographed prelude to a Pink Floyd concert, no moviemaker\u2019s special effect, no computer-generated mindbender. Instead, you are beholding yet another bit of natural magic<\/strong>: the lightning bug, a.k.a. the firefly.<\/p>\n

One of my fondest memories from childhood is getting together with friends and going out to catch lightning bugs. From late spring until early autumn, you could find us careening through the darkness, ignoring all matters of property rights and curfews, armed with jars, bottles, or other containers. Sometimes the old folks would get caught up in our youthful enthusiasm and lumber around after us\u2026after the bugs. And after hours of gleeful bug chasing, we returned home to watch the little stars twinkle, twinkle before our rapt eyes. What fun! Then, the next day, we would release them–now much less exciting because no longer twinkling, now just simply bugs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Why do nearly all children share this fascination with lightning bugs, making it seem almost instinctual, a human trait passed on in our blood? I think Dan Aykroyd said it best in The Great Outdoors<\/em>: \u201cTheir butts light up!\u201d1<\/p>\n

Now that I am one of the old folks myself (I am pushing 30, after all), I do less of the bug chasing than I used to. Okay, I never do it anymore, curmudgeon that I am. But my appreciation for lightning bugs has not diminished in the least over the years. I still love to look out my window or go walkabout in the darkness and see the soft fires blinking in the air. This experience is one of the benefits of country life, too, that I am ever thankful to enjoy.<\/p>\n

And yet it seems to me that those fires are less abundant today than they used to be, that the insect stars that twinkle amongst us are a smaller host than when I was a young stargazer and star chaser.<\/p>\n

This possible darkening of the lightning bugs\u2019 twinkles worries me, since I have heard (and also seen) how bees are disappearing for reasons unknown, how butterflies are dying in various habitats, and how countless other insects are experiencing their own troubles. With global warming and other climate changes, it seems that many of our insect friends are facing serious threats.<\/p>\n

So when I look at the lightning bugs, I feel a twinge of fear even as I smile and watch them flash about. I look back at my childhood bug chasing and thank my lucky stars for that wonderful nature experience<\/strong>–one of the many that helped to form and inform me as the environmentalist I now am. These nature experiences may not seem special to our child-minds, but they remain with us in our hearts for all our lives. They help to open our hearts, too, so that we can love, respect, and protect nature for our own and other children.<\/p>\n

Whatever special, magical mysteries of nature are responsible for the lambent light of lightning bugs, I am glad they are still out there blinking, blinking, blinking away. I can almost hear the sounds of children\u2019s laughter echoing in the darkness\u2026along with the groans and popping joints of sweaty old folks, too.<\/p>\n

Notes
\nImage credit: Giuseppe ME<\/a> at Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.<\/em>
\n1. The Great Outdoors<\/em>. Dir. Howard Deutch. Universal, 1998.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the darkness of twilight or the soft glow before dawn, stars seem to blink and drift about in the air. While crickets chirp, cicadas croon, and various creatures scurry [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":3184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[993,994,729],"yoast_head":"\nTwinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs • Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs • Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the darkness of twilight or the soft glow before dawn, stars seem to blink and drift about in the air. While crickets chirp, cicadas croon, and various creatures scurry [ … ]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Van Kleeck\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Van Kleeck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Van Kleeck\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5d779aa87a57e5f4d1357ec261e7d3b\"},\"headline\":\"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/\"},\"wordCount\":597,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"fireflies\",\"lightning bugs\",\"nature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/\",\"name\":\"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs • Sustainablog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5d779aa87a57e5f4d1357ec261e7d3b\",\"name\":\"Justin Van Kleeck\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/022e280f0d9fe89663cc3724ed7dd6f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/022e280f0d9fe89663cc3724ed7dd6f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justin Van Kleeck\"},\"description\":\"I am an ethical vegan (since 1999), a writer, an educator, an activist, an organizer, and a vegan-of-all-trades. I have a PhD in English but then left academia to work on social change. I focus on veganism, animal rights, local foods, farming practices, environmentalism, and sustainability--starting from the position that humans are just one part of the biosphere, not the center of it.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/justinvankleeck.blogspot.com\",\"www.linkedin.com\/pub\/justin-van-kleeck\/34\/ab2\/621\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jsvk13\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs • Sustainablog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs • Sustainablog","og_description":"In the darkness of twilight or the soft glow before dawn, stars seem to blink and drift about in the air. While crickets chirp, cicadas croon, and various creatures scurry [ … ]","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00","author":"Justin Van Kleeck","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Van Kleeck","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/"},"author":{"name":"Justin Van Kleeck","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5d779aa87a57e5f4d1357ec261e7d3b"},"headline":"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs","datePublished":"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/"},"wordCount":597,"commentCount":5,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["fireflies","lightning bugs","nature"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/","name":"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs • Sustainablog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2008-07-19T12:00:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/twinkle-twinkle-little-fly-the-mysterious-magic-of-lightning-bugs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Fly: The Mysterious Magic of Lightning Bugs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5d779aa87a57e5f4d1357ec261e7d3b","name":"Justin Van Kleeck","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/022e280f0d9fe89663cc3724ed7dd6f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/022e280f0d9fe89663cc3724ed7dd6f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Justin Van Kleeck"},"description":"I am an ethical vegan (since 1999), a writer, an educator, an activist, an organizer, and a vegan-of-all-trades. I have a PhD in English but then left academia to work on social change. I focus on veganism, animal rights, local foods, farming practices, environmentalism, and sustainability--starting from the position that humans are just one part of the biosphere, not the center of it.","sameAs":["http:\/\/justinvankleeck.blogspot.com","www.linkedin.com\/pub\/justin-van-kleeck\/34\/ab2\/621\/"],"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jsvk13\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}