Some species walk into our spaces, uninvited – they don’t belong. They can be trees we bring from the homeland to plant, insects that show up through international trade, or fish we stock for sustenance. However, when they liberate themselves from cultivation, they are portrayed as a potential threat to the economy or even challenge our conceptions of wild nature. This is a short presentation recorded in advance of the Partners in Community Forestry Conference that came to Seattle, hosted by Arbor Day Foundation. There is a growing underflow of writing and thought surfacing that grinds against the dominant thinking about how we not only talk about, but treat, our more than human relations. The words we use express our values, and are a portal to change how we treat the trees we do not think belong in our Landscapes. Organizing around "Just Language" is key first step to applying a lens of love, compassion and harm reduction to the practice of ecological restoration. The invitation is "What is the role for invasive species and what might they have to share for us?"

Weekend Update: A Spotted Lanternfly on Being an Invasive Species - SNL https://youtu.be/K_x4soinsRQ

Arbor Day Foundation Video of Just Language About "Invasive" Species Presentation Just Language in Ecology Education https://justlanguage.org

It takes a community to keep a podcast going. Donate to the show @myadrick via Paypal and Venmo and CashApp

Tell a few friends about the show and follow the podcast on Instagram and Twitter @treehuggerpod

Review treehugger podcast on iTunes