| <div class="ck-content"><h3>Invasive species are not “bad”</h3><p>Nancy Lawson's <a href="https://www.humanegardener.com/pulling-stiltgrass/">latest newsletter</a> focused on pulling stiltgrass. It was, as usual, lyrical, insightful and inspiring. This paragraph really leapt out at me:</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(16,21,23);">I have nothing against stiltgrass or any other plant. All of them are beautiful in different ways, and all of them have ancestors who came from somewhere where they were a part of a thriving, diverse community. I admire their resilience and grow weary of the social-media rhetoric that demonizes plants and animals who ended up outside their home ranges through no fault of their own. It’s spiritually and emotionally corrosive. It also feeds too easily into the destructive narrative that </span><a href="http://www.humanegardener.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=b673e463544921636160f267884e5d26cfc29432ff4f668199f39e1e110b02d3&blog_id=72373472&post_id=13834&user_id=251607790&subs_id=728813631&signature=00e83b7745232164551301871b8ca06d&email_name=new-post&user_email=steven.feuerstein@gmail.com&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVtYW5lZ2FyZGVuZXIuY29tL2RlcG9saXRpY2l6aW5nLXdpbGRsaWZlLWdhcmRlbi1uYXRpdmUtcGxhbnRzLw="><u>falsely equates native plant advocacy with xenophobia</u></a><u>.</u></p></blockquote><p>I struggle with the negative thoughts that inevitably creep into my mind about invasive plants. For example, battling buckthorn has been a big part of my life since 2011. I spent seven years cutting common buckthorn in Chicago, and then discovered Dahurian buckthorn in North Carolina, and as I write this am visiting a friend in upstate New York have been chainsawing buckthorn for days around her farm.</p><p>I must confess that really don't like buckthorn. I hate seeing the ripened berries proliferating on their branches, knowing that birds will eat them, have trouble digesting them, and scatter the seeds. They form dense understory canopies that allow <i>nothing </i> to grow from the dirt beneath them.</p><p>Now, c'mon Steven, there's nothing <i>wrong </i>with buckthorn. In fact, it is clearly a robust, extremely successful species. If I try really hard I can admire the glossy green leaves, the way the veins in the leaves curve upwards and run parallel to the main spine of the leaf, etc. </p><p>Sadly, it takes an enormous effort of will to do so. </p><h3>Native species are part of a web of life</h3><p>The quote from Nancy's newsletter above about xenophobia links to another powerful message about why planting native species is not analogous to xenophobia.</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">An ever-increasing body of research supports the case for planting as many natives as we can, not for selfish human reasons but on behalf of all the other life forms now dependent on us to nurture their last remaining habitats.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">This reminds me of my primary motivation for buying organic food: <i>not </i>because it's better for me (probably is). Because I then encourage and support farmers who are doing less harm to our non-human friends.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">Try to find moments in your day in which you take action to help non-humans (who are not your “pets”). I predict they will be some of the highlights of that day - for you and those creatures.</span></p><h3><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">Animals and death</span></h3><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">Another installment in my “Seriously, humans, why would you think non-humans would <i>not</i> be ‘just like us' (or rather, ‘us like them’)?”</span></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/06/elephants-show-immense-interest-in-corpses-susana-monso-the-philosopher-examining-what-animals-know-about-death"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">From ‘Elephants show immense interest in corpses’: Susana Monsó, the philosopher examining what animals know about death</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">:</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Humans are animals of very high cognitive complexity, but also we are immersed in cumulative cultures where we have all these symbolic representations of death and elaborate rituals. We have this scaffolding of cultural systems and processes that shape our perception and understanding of death, that non-linguistic animals probably don’t have. So for animals, the way they learn about death is solipsistically. Each animal is on their own journey, and is dependent on their own experiences and life history to shape how they understand death.</span></p></blockquote><p>It's a very interesting interview and I am glad Monsó<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);"> is going about her explorations, but I still chafe at her framing. So:</span></p><p><strong>Solipsism</strong><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> (</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);">/ˈsɒlɪpsɪzəm/</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key"><i>SOLL-ip-siz-əm</i></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);">; from </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language">Latin</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> </span><i>solus</i><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> 'alone' and </span><i>ipse</i><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> 'self')</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism#cite_note-1"><sup>[1]</sup></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> is the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy">philosophical</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> idea that only one's </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind">mind</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> is sure to exist. As an </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology">epistemological</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> position, solipsism holds that </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge">knowledge</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality">external world</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_other_minds">other minds</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);"> cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind. [</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);">Wikipedia</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);">]</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);">Once again, making so many assumptions about non-humans, the way they think, they way they communicate with others of the same species. Over and over again, I find myself coming back to that fundamental lesson of evolution by natural selection: humans are <i>different not better</i>. </span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);">I am fairly certain Monsó would agree and that she would argue that she is not arguing that our “scaffolding” is not a reflection of superiority. Yet I sincerely doubt that many readers would come away with that understanding. </span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(32,33,34);">And I simply cannot help but circle around to the firm belief that Monsó has no idea as to whether non-humans are on their own journey or regularly share feelings about their journey with others,</span></p><h3><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">The wonders that are elephants</span></h3><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(43,43,43);">Speaking of elephants, it turns out that elephants are likely “trunked", like humans are "handed". As in: </span></p><blockquote><p>Wrinkles reveal whether elephants are left- or right-trunked, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/09/wrinkles-elephants-left-right-trunked-study">study finds</a></p></blockquote><p>Huh. So humans are even more like elephants than we thought! <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(15,20,25);">🥰</span></p></div><div class="ck-content"><h3>Receive all my reports on tree rescues</h3><p>If you'd like to get some good news about restoring native habitats delivered straight to your brain upwards of a few times a week, sign in to <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, click on your name in top right, then My profile. Under Communication Preferences, switch “Send reports of all events” to ON. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1BeynVqu8taOGrsvi56u0mmDKuNJko22h&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="358" height="138"></div><h3>Resources you might find useful</h3><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them!</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul></div> |