Harper’s Magazine describes itself: “the oldest general-interest monthly in America, explores the issues that drive our national conversation, through long-form narrative journalism and essays…” Harper’s has just published an article by Andrew Cockburn, an experienced investigative journalist with an impressive track-record of informing the public of some of the darkest secrets in our country. The article is available here: Cockburn – Weed Whackers
Invasion biology and the “restoration” industry it has spawned deserved his attention and we are indeed fortunate that he has brought his journalistic skills to this task. The public is largely unaware of the billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being wasted on futile attempts to eradicate “invasive” plants. There is even less knowledge of the quantities of pesticides being used by these projects or the toxicity of those pesticides.
Mr. Cockburn has interviewed many of the key players in this crusade against nature, on both sides of the controversy. And he has visited specific projects to illustrate one of his key points: “invasive” species are symptoms of environmental change, not the cause of them.
This article ( Cockburn – Weed Whackers ) deserves to be read, so we will not summarize it further. Please share it with your friends, whether they are native plant advocates or critics of invasion biology. We are deeply grateful to Mr. Cockburn for his even-handed treatment of this controversial issue, which is dividing communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Conservation Sense and Nonsense 