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Native Plants & Intellectual Honesty
July 3rd, 2011 01:30 pmI love native plants. I'm putting in a lot of natives (and slowly eradicating the lawn).
But I am not a purist (this shouldn't surprise anyone -- I've never been a purist about anything).
I have no problem with putting non-natives in your yard (I certainly do!), as long as they're not non-natives we know to be terribly invasive, like english ivy. I have no problem with nurseries bringing exotic plants from around the globe. They're interesting, and they look cool!
However, I have a problem with intellectual dishonesty where-ever I find it. I recently read something from a Washington nursery that I found quite upsetting. The nursery in question is awesome -- the people are really fun, they do all their own propagating, and they travel the world looking for interesting plants. They've helped propagate and sell some rare natives, too! Please keep that in mind.
The post was in response to someone asking why they 'felt the need' to travel the world for exotics when we have so many wonderful plants here at home. I would have been totally happy with an answer of "because they're interesting and beautiful". Instead, they went on to add certain arguments that reek of rationalization. They're also arguments that come up a lot.
Humans are non-native, and we are the most destructive of all invasive species, so we shouldn't complain about invasive plants/animals
This is a two huge logical fallacies wrapped into one. The first obvious problem is that just because one thing is worse, it doesn't make the other thing harmless. I can't get off the hook for stealing because I know a guy who committed murder.
But there's an even bigger issue with this line of thought. Invasive species are here because of human activity. When we talk about destruction caused by invasive plants, we are talking about destruction caused by humans. It's not an either/or, we're worse than them, don't demonize a vegetable situation -- seeds and spores don't travel the globe without our help. Ethically, this is still our problem, and therefore one we should at least consider fixing.
Exotic ornamentals add genetic variety
If plant genetic variety was the only measure of ecological vitality, and if all the exotic ornamental and natives could interbreed, they might have a point. But this leaves out the importance of animal genetic diversity, specifically among insects. Many species of insects are only able to feed on one species of plant. It's bizarre; it's the truth! If we add plants from distant regions we are most likely adding plants that don't aid the insect level of the ecosystem, which means birds miss their main food supply, as well. This is NOT helping! Ecosystems are incredibly complex and interlinked; most of the time when we try to 'help' them we've royally screwed them up (Oh, australia, I'm lookin at you).
We're not doing the environment any favors by bringing in competitors that don't contribute the food-chain. In fact, even if the non-natives do interbreed, the resultant mix may not be useful to the insect population for a variety of reasons (leaf chemistry; leaf time, and bloom time are all important).
Again, I have NO problem with bringing in some of these plants, but we really need to acknowledge that we're doing it for our own purely aesthetic reasons, not hide behind an idea that we're either helping a struggling environment or somehow ethically in the clear because 'humans are worse than ivy/gray squirrels/kudzu.'
But I am not a purist (this shouldn't surprise anyone -- I've never been a purist about anything).
I have no problem with putting non-natives in your yard (I certainly do!), as long as they're not non-natives we know to be terribly invasive, like english ivy. I have no problem with nurseries bringing exotic plants from around the globe. They're interesting, and they look cool!
However, I have a problem with intellectual dishonesty where-ever I find it. I recently read something from a Washington nursery that I found quite upsetting. The nursery in question is awesome -- the people are really fun, they do all their own propagating, and they travel the world looking for interesting plants. They've helped propagate and sell some rare natives, too! Please keep that in mind.
The post was in response to someone asking why they 'felt the need' to travel the world for exotics when we have so many wonderful plants here at home. I would have been totally happy with an answer of "because they're interesting and beautiful". Instead, they went on to add certain arguments that reek of rationalization. They're also arguments that come up a lot.
Humans are non-native, and we are the most destructive of all invasive species, so we shouldn't complain about invasive plants/animals
This is a two huge logical fallacies wrapped into one. The first obvious problem is that just because one thing is worse, it doesn't make the other thing harmless. I can't get off the hook for stealing because I know a guy who committed murder.
But there's an even bigger issue with this line of thought. Invasive species are here because of human activity. When we talk about destruction caused by invasive plants, we are talking about destruction caused by humans. It's not an either/or, we're worse than them, don't demonize a vegetable situation -- seeds and spores don't travel the globe without our help. Ethically, this is still our problem, and therefore one we should at least consider fixing.
Exotic ornamentals add genetic variety
If plant genetic variety was the only measure of ecological vitality, and if all the exotic ornamental and natives could interbreed, they might have a point. But this leaves out the importance of animal genetic diversity, specifically among insects. Many species of insects are only able to feed on one species of plant. It's bizarre; it's the truth! If we add plants from distant regions we are most likely adding plants that don't aid the insect level of the ecosystem, which means birds miss their main food supply, as well. This is NOT helping! Ecosystems are incredibly complex and interlinked; most of the time when we try to 'help' them we've royally screwed them up (Oh, australia, I'm lookin at you).
We're not doing the environment any favors by bringing in competitors that don't contribute the food-chain. In fact, even if the non-natives do interbreed, the resultant mix may not be useful to the insect population for a variety of reasons (leaf chemistry; leaf time, and bloom time are all important).
Again, I have NO problem with bringing in some of these plants, but we really need to acknowledge that we're doing it for our own purely aesthetic reasons, not hide behind an idea that we're either helping a struggling environment or somehow ethically in the clear because 'humans are worse than ivy/gray squirrels/kudzu.'
