Farewell to a creation care hero

Prarthini Selveindran — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 10:08:53 +0000

Only three people have ever received honorary citizenship in Nepal. One of these was Sir Edmund Hillary, who (with Tenzing Sherpa) was the first to scale Mount Everest.

The third was Colin Smith who devoted six decades to recording and describing the butterflies of this Himalayan country.

Arriving from Britain in 1964 to work with United Mission to Nepal, Colin was motivated by his Christian faith from the beginning until his death on 4 November 2023. He began by teaching maths, but quickly became fascinated by the spectacular butterflies of the Himalayas, drawing on an interest sparked by his uncle in England and spurred by a request from his mission agency to create a butterfly collection for Nepal. In 1974, he seized an opportunity to work on butterflies fulltime through a Nepali university, and over the next decades increased the number of butterfly species recorded in Nepal from less than 400 to about 650. He recorded his work in over 30 books, one becoming a best-seller in Kathmandu. Colin has inspired many people through his work and life, training many young Nepalis as lepidopterists and becoming known locally as Putali Bajey (“Butterfly Grandpa” in Nepali). He will be remembered for drawing many people to appreciate God’s creation in a place of remarkable biodiversity.

British entomologist Colin Smith, showing moths, which were collected in Nepal. – Dhulikhel, near Kathmandu, Nepal. Den britiske entomolog Colin Smith viser natsværmere, indsamlet i Nepal. – Dhulikhel, nær Kathmandu, Nepal

“Did you have to destroy my butterflies?”

Ed — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 20:30:00 +0000

AP photo, from the article linked below.

Doubtless you were as dismayed as we were to learn a few days ago that the beautiful, magnificent, harmless monarch butterfly has joined thousands of other insect species on the endangered species list:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The monarch butterfly fluttered a step closer to extinction Thursday, as scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list because of its fast dwindling numbers.
“It’s just a devastating decline,” said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new listing. “This is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world.”
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migrating monarch butterfly for the first time to its “red list” of threatened species and categorized it as “endangered” — two steps from extinct.
The group estimates that the population of monarch butterflies in North America has declined between 22% and 72% over 10 years, depending on the measurement method.
Source: AP

Whatever the reasons, and they are, admittedly, complex, all that we can think of is what God will say to us: “Did you have to destroy my butterflies, too?”

May God have mercy.

butterflies – The Pollinator: Creation Care Network News

Farewell to a creation care hero

“Did you have to destroy my butterflies?”