Invasive Plants: What's Our Level of Responsibility?

A local nursery I love(d) blocked me on Facebook today. They posted about a new plant they were selling, complete with growing tips and how customers could achieve the sculptured look that so many businesses and HOAs did (the plant is creeping fig and I'll talk more about that in a minute). 

Operating under the assumption that the nursery didn't understand what they were selling, I commented on the post that creeping fig has very high invasive potential and that UF/IFAS no longer recommends it. 

That was all it took. Blocked. I feel like such a rebel.

I wasn't upset. Disappointed, yes. I'll continue to support the nursery in its social mission, but I won't buy plants from them. I'll find other ways to help.

The whole thing got me thinking, though. What's our responsibility when it comes to invasive plants, the damage they cause to the environment, and the increasing costs of mitigating that impact? Where do we draw a line here?

The Plant in Question

The plant that started this whole thing is the creeping fig (Ficus pumila). It's native to Asia but has become naturalized in much of the U.S. thanks to its invasiveness. The University of Florida adheres to the most conservative measures when making plant recommendations/assessments, and lists F. pumila as having high invasive potential and not recommended. And because UF follows the most conservative route possible, you know this plant is a problem. Not on the scale of kudzu, pictured at the top of this post, but even kudzu wasn't a big deal when it was first introduced. Now it's eaten the South.

Responsibility: What Do We Owe?

Most of us are familiar with the concept of responsibility to some degree. We're responsible for how our yards look, for making smart choices in our lives, and for the harm that we cause others. But what about our responsibility to the environment? To the species we share the earth with and on which our survival depends, no matter how indirectly.

My mom instilled a strong sense of responsibility in me growing up. It included cleaning up after myself when I made a mess. Boy Scouts helped, too. Leave the world better than you found it. Pack in what you pack out. Tidy the hell up after yourself. But it never went much deeper than that, sadly. Many people's sense of accountability ends there. 

Here's the thing. Personal responsibility is good. But it's only a starting point. 

The individuality that oversaturates Western thinking encourages us to stop thinking about our responsibility where we/us/ours ends. Our bodies, our homes, our yards. Ownership implies responsibility. But that sense of ownership is skewed. We see ourselves as owning our bodies, our homes, and our yards, but what about the ramifications of our actions a time or two removed? 

Sometimes we struggle to accept responsibility for our actions when the consequences only affect us. I didn't think it through. I was just so mad. I just couldn't take it. It's much harder to take responsibility for the outcomes of our actions when they're not so immediate.

Everything we do causes ripples in the world. That's karma (karma simply means "action"). What we put out there affects more than us. It changes people around us and affects the very planet. Yes, personal actions have small impacts on something the size of the Earth, but when you take our actions in concert - 100 people dumping their trash on the side of the road, for instance - it's easier to see that our actions are never just "ours". They're always about everything and everyone else. 

What we do matters. We have a responsibility to mitigate the potential harm of our actions. Not cutting someone off in traffic helps avoid accidents, preventing injury or even death to not just ourselves, but those around us. 

What about the outcomes of our actions in the natural world when we do something like adding an invasive plant to the landscape? What's our responsibility when recommending and selling invasive plants to our customers? How do we tally that impact? Now, consider that Florida spends $45 million per year in taxpayer money combatting invasive plants. That doesn't include invasive animals. The total is around $125 million annually, and it keeps increasing. But that's only money. The impact on native ecosystems is incalculable. 

While not all, many of the invasives plaguing Florida (and the world at large) got started because someone thought that it looked good or provided some value, despite that it wasn't native to their area, and planted it on their property without looking deeply into the situation. Many of these people may have never noticed invasive growth in their yards, either. But what happens when a bird eats the fruit from that plant, and then deposits it miles away in droppings? What happens when bees take pollen from one flower and pollinate a tree miles away that then bears fruit and spreads? 

There is a degree of responsibility in all of these instances. If we hadn't planted the tree or bush in the first place, then the subsequent results could not have happened. The same holds true for nurseries that sell invasive plants. They have a degree of responsibility for the outcome. 

Few of us see things that way, however. It's part of why we're in the situation we're in. Many of us have a colonizer mind. We choose the plants we want around us based on personal preference for aesthetics or food production, never really thinking beyond our immediate wants. And I say "wants" rather than needs because if we would just pause and look deeper, maybe consult with Indigenous peoples who've lived on this land for thousands of years, we'd find that not only are there native plants that could fill that role just as well, but that they also improve the environment around us.

Planting invasives does so much harm. It's not just about aggressive spread. It's about the death and destruction they cause. When an invasive plant takes over, it outcompetes natives. When those natives decline, so do the beings that depend on them for food, shelter, and habitat. When those species decline, the ones that depend on them decline. It's an endless cascade that will eventually reach us.

Responsibility, Respect, Reciprocity

We will care about stuff like this when it affects us, but it shouldn't have to impact you or me directly for us to care. The fact that our decisions based on wants and preferences cause pain, suffering, and death to beings all around us should make us care. We must cultivate respect for the Earth and all her children. 

We must recognize our responsibility for environmental damage from oil spills to putting poison on our lawns to planting the wrong species in the wrong place. Only then can we truly benefit from the natural reciprocity that nature provides. 

Love and respect your Mother. She's all we have and all that we have flows from her.