The UN has warned that in order to have viable future, we must address the 5 horsemen of the biodiversity crisis. Most of us are familiar with the first four of the horsemen: land use change, over exploitation of species, climate change, and pollution. But less well know is the fifth horseman: invasive species.
I'm also finding conversations about invasives awkward. It's difficult to explain the ecological devastation of, "it crowds out native plants." My neighbors think the wildly invaded land behind our community is "untouched", even as the trees are dying in realtime. I'm tired of dismissive claims that the "balance of nature" will eventually right itself, as though the process doesn't affect daily life with fires and floods. "The balance of nature is not delicate", I've started saying. Nature will heal, sure, but we may not survive it. I wrote a short poem to express my frustration.
# Balance is not Delicate
Nature’s equilibrium is a process, not a goal;
the scales tip and dip under costs paid in blood.
Threaded needles pierce life‘s tapestry with snips and rips,
destruction serving as creation’s chariot.
Release and gain act in concert, inhumane,
divvying particles by ineffable scheme.
Absolute control ensures the pendulum’s return swing;
Very interesting article Pru. Peter and I were going around our yard counting the culprits we have. To namd a just a few, we have Knotweed, bamboo, english ivy, poison ivy. they are all so freaking hard to eliminate. I hope your round up experiments works. I think Peter tried the cut and paint round up method on our knotweed to limited success. Thanks for writing.
I'm also finding conversations about invasives awkward. It's difficult to explain the ecological devastation of, "it crowds out native plants." My neighbors think the wildly invaded land behind our community is "untouched", even as the trees are dying in realtime. I'm tired of dismissive claims that the "balance of nature" will eventually right itself, as though the process doesn't affect daily life with fires and floods. "The balance of nature is not delicate", I've started saying. Nature will heal, sure, but we may not survive it. I wrote a short poem to express my frustration.
# Balance is not Delicate
Nature’s equilibrium is a process, not a goal;
the scales tip and dip under costs paid in blood.
Threaded needles pierce life‘s tapestry with snips and rips,
destruction serving as creation’s chariot.
Release and gain act in concert, inhumane,
divvying particles by ineffable scheme.
Absolute control ensures the pendulum’s return swing;
chemical warfare against our own well-being.
Thanks for sharing your poem. It's very thought provoking - well done!
Very interesting article Pru. Peter and I were going around our yard counting the culprits we have. To namd a just a few, we have Knotweed, bamboo, english ivy, poison ivy. they are all so freaking hard to eliminate. I hope your round up experiments works. I think Peter tried the cut and paint round up method on our knotweed to limited success. Thanks for writing.
I'm afraid poison ivy is a native!
I hear knotweed is really hard to get rid of. I KNOW bamboo is. Sounds like you've got your work ahead of you - good luck.
Poison Ivy is actually native and its berries are very nutritious for birds, with high fat content needed for migration and over wintering.
Fifth horseman... potent metaphor. Well done.
Thanks Diane :^)