[APWG] The McDonaldization of the natural world

[Robert Layton Beyfuss]

Mr Barr
If my arguments are "straw men" they should be easy to refute or blow away. You are welcome to do so. You wonder about my motives. I wonder about the motives of the chemical companies that sell the thousands and thousands of pounds of herbicides that are used for the eradication programs. There is a lot of money to be made killing weeds.  The local director of our Nature Conservancy told me he could easily spend his entire operating budget trying to eradicate garlic mustard just along the roads in his region with the assurance that he would need to repeat it all over again within 2 or 3 years. Like it or not, invasive plants are not going to go away. I would much rather see some efforts towards finding uses for some of these weeds. The sheer biomass that many of these plants are capable of producing is amazing. Many of these plants were intentionally introduced because they offered benefits such as providing food or forage, stabilizing soil, protecting water. The fact that they have become weeds does not negate their other values. A local livestock owner I know has managed to keep Japanese knotweed, aka Mexican bamboo, aka Filipea cuspidatum completely under control on her property by allowing her horses, sheep, goats and pigs to graze it, which they do with great  enthusiasm! If anyone is interested I have photos of all these animals happily eating this weed. 
 

________________________________________
From: apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org [apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of John Barr [jmbarr at academicplanet.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 11:17 PM
To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [APWG] The McDonaldization of the natural world

You can have your science.

I mourn the aesthetic of the McDonaldization of the natural world.  As
we go forward in time, I see a future where everywhere looks like
everywhere else.  Vast swaths across the globe of the same successful
generalists. Sameness, sameness, sameness........

Mr Beyfuss, I think you construct many a straw-man with your
arguments.  When someone takes the time to erect so many straw-men and
then smites with such zeal, I can only wonder about their motives.

john


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