Damien Enright: Humans are not necessary to the planet, in fact we're superfluous

Countless examples exist to show that animals and nature thrive on being left alone

The ghost town of Pripyat at Chernobyl has seen mother nature reclaim much of the land. Picture: iStock

Last week, before the shower-an-hour of this May weather, we had water skaters skittering across the surface of our small pond. How great it was to see a band of insects, quite harmless to ourselves, feeding and, perhaps, mating on the garden pond. Insects are becoming rarer every year. The over-use of insecticides is a great pity and accelerates the end of nature and ourselves.

Many readers will have been locked up for most of 18 months now. Our absence from the outdoors gave nature a respite from the depredations we have made necessary in order to support our burgeoning global population.