Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Reintegrating humans into their ecosystems (so they are directly dependent on them and understand that dependence and thus actively steward them) is what will be required to help humans shift from their predominantly invasive form to a naturalized and even beneficial one. Like the common plantain.
What kind of thinking leads to the unleashing of exotic species on unsuspecting ecosystems? Hint: it’s certainly not systems thinking or critical thinking – in fact, thinking may not be involved at all!
That settler-colonialists, mostly of European descent, have wreaked havoc on the ecosystems of the Americas is all-too-clear. To conclude from this that all the introduced plants who live here now “don’t belong” is a step too far, and the idea that they should be eradicated is not merely misguided, but dangerous.
Looming over this book…is the overwhelming fact that we have indeed entered the Anthropocene.
The ʻohiʻa is Hawaii’s iconic tree, a keystone species that maintains healthy watersheds and provides habitat for numerous endangered birds. But a virulent fungal disease, possibly related to a warmer, drier climate, is now felling the island’s cherished ‘ohi’a forests.
The fate of a tree planted at poet Emily Dickinson’s home raises questions about whether gardeners can — or should — play a role in helping plant species migrate in the face of rising temperatures and swiftly changing botanical zones.
The effects of Climate Change as witnessed by a writer researching the ecosystem, history and plants of the Mojave Desert.
Non-native species can dramatically reshape their invaded habitats and disrupt the interactions between native species.
The word, “invasive”, whether pinned to an animal, plant, algae, etc., has a deceptively simple ring to it, but it is actually quite ambiguous. First, it is not, and never has been, a scientific term with a set definition.
Transformed by British sailors in the 19th century, Ascension Island in the South Atlantic has a unique tropical forest consisting almost entirely of alien species.
