To Squash Or Not To Squash — Musings On Invasive Species

[Music] greetings everyone I'm Adam Harrington in this video I'm going to share with you some of my recent thoughts and questions on the fascinating topic of invasive species my questions are directed specifically to those of us who consider ourselves to be native species enthusiasts there are a lot of us in this space and there are a lot of organizations doing great work what I've noticed over the years though is that people in the space generally have good intentions but our words don't always align with our actions we say things that aren't deeply considered and we often operate emotionally rather than rationally if we want to make our arguments stronger if we want people to take our native species enthusiasm seriously we have to think deeply about our thoughts and we have to be willing to question our beliefs which is not easy to do and we also have to practice what we preach I understand that a video like this could trigger some people that's not my intention I'm simply trying to bring more consistency between what we say and what we do so let's start with blaming one thing I've observed over and over again is that blame is being placed on the wrong thing yes you can hate an invasive plant you can hate an invasive tree you can hate an invasive insect that's your right as a human but I'm telling you this kind of animosity is misdirected and if you let it build up inside you it can lead to all kinds of personal health problems in many cases the problem isn't the invasive species the problem is the habitat and more specifically what's been done to the habitat the appearance of invasive species usually coincides with some kind of major change to the landscape this could be a cleared Forest it could be a drained Wetland it could be a mined Hillside once the change occurs early successional species including those that are considered invasive move in it's almost inevitable in the 21st century for some reason though we tend to only see and treat the symptom and not the cause even worse our treatment sometimes proves disastrous and if you don't believe me look into the history of lead arsenate this obsession with treating the symptom and not the cause isn't unique to how we deal with invasive species there are many parallels with how we treat our bodies think of something like chronic stomach pain we could treat chronic stomach pain with pills we could treat chronic stomach pain with Pepto-Bismol or we could ignore the pain completely or we could look into our diet understand that the pain is trying to grab our attention maybe we could get rid of all rancid vegetable oils and figure out what's actually causing the problem and it might even be stress but few people are willing to do this kind of work because it's work it's hard work it's a whole lot easier to take a pill than it is to change our diet and lifestyle likewise it's a lot easier to blame a plant or an insect than it is to confront a developer who's converting a 200 acre Forest into a housing plan what is most needed in these instances is not a demonization of the Invaders that eventually show up around the periphery but a good hard look at what could Inspire someone to be more interested in money than Wild Spaces another inconsistency I see among people who strongly advocate for Native species involves something that a lot of us probably don't want to hear but I'll say it anyway travel if we want the luxury to be able to go anywhere that we want to go and live anywhere that we want to live how can we keep that right to ourselves and not extend it to other living organisms we want the luxury to be able to visit or even to settle down permanently somewhere else but we don't want the same for others now I'm not saying travel is a bad thing I travel but I also understand that number one my ability to travel anywhere that I want to go shouldn't be exclusive to the human species and number two travel is associated with the movement of living organisms around the world I accept that I guess you could call me complicit because I travel now it's true humans have been traveling ever since there were humans on this planet but for the vast majority of time major limitations were firmly established we could not travel from Japan to Pittsburgh in 15 hours today we can do that and it's amazing but there are consequences along the same lines if we truly truly wanted to curb the spread of invasive species wouldn't we confront or at least move in the direction of confronting globalization and InterContinental trade now I know it's a wonderful thing to have food and clothing and computers and medicines and building materials produced someplace far away and shipped to us but isn't there a consequence to that and isn't one of the consequences the spread of living organisms if we are not willing to give up our coffee from Indonesia or phones from China or clothes from Bangladesh and are Pharmaceuticals from Europe we have to understand that our dependence on worldly products is directly linked to the spread of living organisms we can't have one without the other at least not in the 21st century to me it's kind of ironic that some people denigrate invasive species and don't think twice about supporting a company like Amazon I don't think Amazon is a devil but I also don't see how Amazon is really that different from any invasive species the parallels are uncanny and it's funny because we're so quick to smash every spot at lanternfly we see yet we welcome with open arms our Amazon packages that wait for us outside our front door but should we I am not saying that globalization is inherently a bad thing I am living proof of its benefits but I also recognize that there is a strong connection between my Reliance on worldly products clothing computers building materials food and the movement of living organisms around the world speaking of food let's shift gears for a minute and discuss a popular claim regarding the nutritional value of invasive plants for Wildlife Research has shown that the flowers and fruits of some invasive species are less nutritionally favorable for insects and birds compared to the flowers and fruits of native plants the key word here is some some invasive species have been studied and actually most invasive species have never been studied so we have no idea how they compare to native plants yet a lot and I mean a lot of people make the claim that every invasive plant robs native pollinators and birds of important nutrients but the major inconsistency with a sentiment that few people ever seem to realize is that if we truly believe that invasive and by extension non-native species are nutritionally inferior why don't we apply this concern to our own diets the average human diet in North America comprises non-native species both non-native plants and animals aren't we concerned that our own non-native diets are nutritionally poor should we not be moving towards a 100 native species diet for ourselves if we truly feel like that's the best diet for living organisms this all reminds me of a verse from Song of Songs in which it says they made me take care of The Vineyards my own Vineyard I have neglected I think there's a beautiful parallel between these words and our concerned for the diets of wild animals yes it's very Noble to show concern for our wild friends but do you have that same kind of concern for yourself and are you acting on that concern are you taking care of your health are you eating a biologically appropriate diet or are you neglecting your Vineyard if you are neglecting it how can you know what's best for another living organism take care of the ecosystem inside of you and you will be much better equipped to care for the ecosystem outside of you to conclude our discussion let's go back to the year 1492 a year that many of us in North America generally recognize as being the cutoff for when a certain organism could claim native status now I think many of us in the native species Community forget that in the 1400s and well before then there were people lots of people on this continent who are actively working the land and we forget or we just don't realize that the land looked the way that it did to European newcomers not because it was untouched but because it was touched I'll say that again the land looked the way that it did not because it was untouched but because it was touched indigenous cultures significantly impacted the land those two variables were not independent they were intimately dependent upon one another here's the problem today many Native species enthusiasts pick and choose what they want from the 15th century they tend to focus all their attention on the native flora and fauna and completely Overlook the native cultures that were entwined with the native flora and fauna that's a huge oversight if we like the notion of how the land looked in 1492 and we want to recreate some semblance of that today how is it even possible to do that without acknowledging and advocating for the people who were responsible for the way the land looked you can probably see that there are no easy answers and at the risk of confusing myself and maybe you even more I'm going to ask and end with one more question why does the land look the way that it does today I would say the land looks the way that it does because we don't need it now of course we couldn't exist without the land so deep down certainly we need it but I'm talking about consciously needing the land most people today in North America consciously do not need the land and it shows like a mirror the land in my opinion is a perfect mirror it reflects back to us our priorities if we don't need or prioritize the land things appear out of place things seem unstable things seem Bleak but imagine if we did need the land imagine if we consciously needed its food if we consciously needed its medicine if we consciously need it it's building materials if we consciously needed its companionship and imagine if we acted on those needs couldn't we significantly change things around could we not turn this land into a paradise I would say this is not only possible I would say this is almost guaranteed if we consciously needed the land those are my thoughts today thank you for listening if you'd like to support the work that I do there are two ways you could do that you can subscribe to the learn your land YouTube channel I would also love it if you would head on over to learn your land.com and sign up for the email newsletter thank you so much for watching this video I'll see you on the next one [Music] thank you

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 52,286

Keywords:

Id: Q0UG1jGGbcI

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 04 2022