There’s always something of concern. Now it’s petunias, the genetically modified ones. Beware the African Sunset Petunia. It’s the product of genetic modification, and even though it doesn’t appear to be any kind of threat to ecologies in North America, it’s been banned by the United States Department of Acriculture.* No one seems to have gotten a permit to push a posy of petunias prior to their placement.
But you can understand the ban because you’ve seen the product of introduced plant species, the so-called invasive species. There’s Pueraria lobata, for example, commonly called kudzu. It’s the vine that is covering much of the southern United States. And then there’s Kali tragus, or tumbleweed. Watch for it on windy days in the American West. The former is a green vine; the latter is a bird’s nest of tan fiber. Now imagine a country covered in reddish petunias. Gasp!
We’re always dealing with two characteristics of hybridization and invasion in our personal lives. We ourselves undergo hybridization through experience and learning, and we encounter a changing social environment either in the form of new people in the neighborhood or at work or in the form of invasive social media or governmental restriction.
In the face of changes to our personal ecology, we often act like the USDA, placing caution above acceptance. “Better to be safe than sorry,” the expression goes. But we are relatively resilient and resourceful. There might already be tens of thousands of introduced species in North America, but we survived their invasion, and we can even profit from it. Kudzu, for example, is edible. So are dandelions, another invasive species.
We hybridize ourselves as we adapt to the changing nature of place. We develop emotional and intellectual mechanisms to deal with previously un-encountered problems foisted upon us by social media. We have survived by adapting. You will survive by adapting. Encountering a changing personal ecology? Adapt. Find some way to use the invasive species to your advantage. That’s not just food for thought. It might be real food.
Don’t worry. We’ll get through this petunia crisis.
* Posted in: Science, AAAS at
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/us-flower-sellers-rush-destroy-illegal-ge-petunias
DOI: 10.1126/science.aal1200
But you can understand the ban because you’ve seen the product of introduced plant species, the so-called invasive species. There’s Pueraria lobata, for example, commonly called kudzu. It’s the vine that is covering much of the southern United States. And then there’s Kali tragus, or tumbleweed. Watch for it on windy days in the American West. The former is a green vine; the latter is a bird’s nest of tan fiber. Now imagine a country covered in reddish petunias. Gasp!
We’re always dealing with two characteristics of hybridization and invasion in our personal lives. We ourselves undergo hybridization through experience and learning, and we encounter a changing social environment either in the form of new people in the neighborhood or at work or in the form of invasive social media or governmental restriction.
In the face of changes to our personal ecology, we often act like the USDA, placing caution above acceptance. “Better to be safe than sorry,” the expression goes. But we are relatively resilient and resourceful. There might already be tens of thousands of introduced species in North America, but we survived their invasion, and we can even profit from it. Kudzu, for example, is edible. So are dandelions, another invasive species.
We hybridize ourselves as we adapt to the changing nature of place. We develop emotional and intellectual mechanisms to deal with previously un-encountered problems foisted upon us by social media. We have survived by adapting. You will survive by adapting. Encountering a changing personal ecology? Adapt. Find some way to use the invasive species to your advantage. That’s not just food for thought. It might be real food.
Don’t worry. We’ll get through this petunia crisis.
* Posted in: Science, AAAS at
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/us-flower-sellers-rush-destroy-illegal-ge-petunias
DOI: 10.1126/science.aal1200
RSS Feed