GLOBAL INVADERS

The Asian longhorned beetle is a recent invader
centering in New York City and surrounding area.
Originating in China, the ALB was first spotted in
the city in 1996 and is believed to have arrived in
the 1980s in wood-packing material. Since that
time it has spread to 16 states from California to
Massachusetts, Ontario and British Columbia in
Canada, and Britain, Austria, and Germany in
Europe. It weakens and destroys trees by boring
holes in the bark to lay eggs which become adults
and in turn bore more holes.


This course of events is unexceptional. One web
site lists over 300 invasive species, both plant and
animal, thruout the globe, and there may well be
more, perhaps many more. Our world is being
transformed and there seems to be no way to stop
the process.

Nor is this global event unique. There have been
five previous major disturbances of the worldwide
biome in the history of our planet, and more lesser
ones. One metaphorical explanation for this is that
our Mother Gaia is a gardener and sometimes gard-
eners pull up their gardens and start all over again.
This explanation may or may not be a source of con-
solation; for those who love our Mother's creation,
the loss is painful.

But this process, universal transformation of the
Earth in multiple ways, is the major characteristic
of our times.