Ok. Slight lie. I saw one firefly. It was early in the season and in broad daylight, so not when it should have been blinking. But it was a firefly.

But this year is the first that I haven't seen a single firefly light up. And it's late enough in the season now that I doubt I'll see one before the snow falls.

The planet is fucked, folks. Not that I didn't already know this. The weather has been steadily more severe over the last few years. And hotter. And you steadily hear news about icebergs this and ice shelves that and more hot-habitat species moving further from the equator as the climate warms.

But not a single firefly fireflying? In my area? That's a qualitative shift that has more impact on my outlook than just the abstract knowledge that we're killing the planet and the slow progression of a few known trends.