Alien Encounter

In today’s society, exotic is considered beautiful. People always want that rare plant or exotic bird. Before seeing the movie Strange Days, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I always thought these foreign organisms were harmless and just there to provide diversity. I never knew that such harmless creatures and plants could cause so much trouble. It is astonishing that such small creatures, like termites could destroy entire neighborhoods. These alien species also reak havoc on our economy, health and the earth itself. According to an article by Cornell University ecologists, as of 1999, in North America alone alien species are causing us 123 billion dollars a year. That’s a lot of money for the accidental importation of some non-indigenous creatures. Some of the alien species introduced into foreign lands are intentional. In the movie, they used the example of the mongooses in Puerto Rico who were supposed to take care of the rat population. The Cornell article describes how the plant Purple Loosestrife was brought from Europe to be an ornamental plant. Both the mongoose and the Purple Loosestrife seemed liked a good idea at the time but ended up endangering the native species of the area.

I would agree with the video, saying that the introduction of foreign species I also consider the foreign species that have helped our way of life. The video talked about how on Lake Victoria scientists introduced the weevils to the environment. Everyone benefited form the introduction because it helped resolve the problems the water hyacinth caused. The Cornell article also talks about how even though alien species are costing North America 123 billion dollars, 98% of the U.S. food supply consists of foreign species.

The lesson that we should learn form the video, Strange Days, and the Cornell article is that we should be careful what we introduce into or lands. Sometimes the outcome is good, but most of the time its bad.

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org