WEBVTT - Lab 018: Truth Pie 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:03.600 So Thanksgiving is next week? Oh boy, are you cooking? 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:04.720 No? I'm not. 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:08.200 What a time I was about to say, what was 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.760 the last time you didn't cook for Thanksgiving? That's that's wild. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.160 No turkey for me, No turkey in my house, period, 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:16.959 because none of us like it. Like we used to 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.480 get turkey every year and now we're just like, no, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.000 we don't like turkey. Let's just say that that's not 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.200 a part of what we eat. I eat the kiss turkey, 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:26.799 to be clear, because she she does something different. It 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:32.920 tastes very good. The kiss turkey tastes like ham, and 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:34.200 so I will eat that bird. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:36.800 I know this is like the first Thanksgiving in forever 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.360 that I'm not cooking, but I'm happy to say I 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.239 will not be rattling pots and pans. 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:44.360 I never cook for Thanksgiving. If somebody asks me to 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:46.320 make something, I usually just do like mac and cheese, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:47.040 and that's it. 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:49.559 I remember that boomerang from when you made that mac 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.480 and cheese. Oh man, it looks so good. 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.360 People like it. I don't really eat mac and cheese 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:54.720 like that. 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.400 I know this goes against everything that we know. Everybody 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:59.480 that's listening, you know you're not supposed to eat the 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.160 mac and cheese. If somebody says I don't eat mac 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.880 and cheese like that, and they made it, it's actually 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:05.840 very good. 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.280 Yes, because I have everybody taste tests and I'm like, 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:10.400 be honest, and it's my sister, so they're always going 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:15.120 to be honest. So I'm t T and I'm Zakiah 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:16.520 and from Spotify Studios. 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:27.039 This is Dope Labs. 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:34.560 Everybody knows we love food. It's no secret. We've talked 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.280 about it so much. But I think there's always so 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.319 many of these complicated relationships with food. Some of them 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.280 are around culture, some of them are around like sourcing 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:48.320 of food, and Thanksgiving is just one of those food 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.400 based holidays. And I'm like, I don't know about this. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.520 I know probably since maybe the fourth grade, I've been 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:56.840 standing up and talking about the Pilgrims wiping out the 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.360 Native Americans every year. 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:05.520 Yes, so Thanksgiving has a sordid past and people becoming 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:10.520 less enchanted with the idea of Thanksgiving because of what 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.240 it's rooted in and what it's based on in its history. 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.360 Yes, it's not like that Peanuts cartoon that they show. 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:22.920 No, And it ain't construction paper feathers and no turkey sandwiches, 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:24.639 draw your hand and. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:25.840 Turn it into a turkey. 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:26.720 It ain't none of that. 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.160 It's none of that. Gather around the corner coopia. 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:33.920 No, it ain't no cornucopia. Okay, everybody's just starting to 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.359 feel like, no, I'm not with it. Like the only 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:38.680 Christopher we acknowledge is Wallace. 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.360 So in this episode, we're basically rolling these all of 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:51.000 these kind of feelings mm hmm and truths, yes, into 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.320 one big ball of dough. That's how you can kind 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.200 of put it what you make with that dope pie 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.639 truth pie pie. 0:02:59.240 --> 0:02:59.920 I hope it'sleep. 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:05.240 We are talking about colonialism specifically, we're looking at colonialism 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.320 through the lens of ecology. So if you don't know 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:10.800 what those words mean, hang tight. We're moving straight to 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:14.320 the recitation. So we say we're talking about colonialism through 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:15.400 the lens of ecology. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.320 Colonialism is a human process that has to do with 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:23.760 unequal power structures one society interfering with another society's ability 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.400 to thrive. There are a bunch of different types of colonialism, 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.720 but what we're going to focus on in this episode 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:34.840 is called Setler colonialism. Cellar colonialism implies a group of 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:39.240 people moving into another group of people's territory and claiming 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.360 it as their own. And in order to do that, 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.760 they are willing to eliminate that other group of people physically, culturally, 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:47.480 and everything else. 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.120 And the lens through which we're going to explore colonialism 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:55.680 is ecology. If you remember from our Cuffing season episode. 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.840 Ecology is a branch of biology that deals with the 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:03.360 relationship of one organism to another, and those organisms to 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:04.520 their physical surroundings. 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.040 I think it's important for us to kind of unpack 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.720 some of this stuff and talk about some of the 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:17.040 broader ramifications of colonialism. Like we're becoming more and more 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:21.000 aware of the effects that it had on the Native 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.520 American population, But there are other things that were affected too. 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.080 Right. We know there are lots of plants and animals 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:28.680 that are extinct that exist no more. 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:32.360 Right there are fruits and veggies that are not indigenous 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.599 to North America that are here, that are here that 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.560 we eat daily, that are in our supermarkets, that are 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.479 now grown in the United States. But I have a 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.200 lot of questions about all of this because I feel 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.400 like I only like see like a little little corner 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:50.440 of it. It's like not even like the tip of 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.360 the iceberg. I don't even feel like I see the 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.720 full tip of the iceberg. I feel like I can 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.520 only see like a snowflake. And so I really just 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.040 want an avalanche of information about all of this, the 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:06.120 effects on flora and fauna, the effects on the indigenous 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:13.000 people of North America, the effects on animals and everything. 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.920 That's an ambitious I know it's good, right because I 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.120 think what it says is that you understand that there 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:20.680 are effects. 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:20.880 Right. 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.159 There are often people think like, oh, it's just you 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:25.800 know these groups and then you know, my cousin is 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.120 part Cherokee, and it's like, no, no, no, you don't 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:32.720 understand all of these groups that were basically eradicated. You know. 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.440 So we've got these big questions, But what do we 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:36.960 really want to get to the bottom of? What are 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:37.880 we pressing out here? 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.640 One of the things is what was the ecology of 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:46.880 North America before European colonialism? Yeah, and how did the 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.320 indigenous communities interact with their environment before then? 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.280 Yeah, there's probably a lot we can learn. And then 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.840 I guess the next question that follows that is how 0:05:55.960 --> 0:06:01.440 was ecology affected after colonialism started? So now these people 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.400 are here, is it a rapid decline? Is it gradual 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:06.679 like what's happening? 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.520 And I think the last question that I have is 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.040 what do we do going forward with all the information 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.360 that we're about to get. What are the steps that 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:21.080 we can take as citizens of America, citizens of this world, 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.760 citizen scientists, as global citizens, as I like to say, 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.880 to make things better and to improve the environment. 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:32.320 Yeah, because I think we're definitely at a point now 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.640 where we're back in the stage of conservation, trying to 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.640 undo all of this stuff that's been done in the 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:39.960 past couple hundred years. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:42.440 And you can't know where you're going unless you know 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:44.719 where you came from. A so let's get into the 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:49.039 dissection and to help us out, we called on doctor 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:49.800 Nicholas Rio. 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:51.960 I'm a citizen of the sus Saint Mary Tribe of 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:57.080 Chipwall Indians, which is a tribal nation located in Northern 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:00.359 Michigan what's now known as Northern Michigan. And I'm an 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:04.160 associate professor of Native American Studies and Environmental Studies at 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:05.160 Dartmouth College. 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:10.000 Doctor Rial studies Indigenous Knowledge and ecological Stewardship on Indigenous lands. 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.040 Another area of his focused is broadening discussions on climate 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:17.400 change and invasive species by including indigenous lives and indigenous perspectives. 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.080 What is invasive species. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.600 Invasive species are organisms that are non native to an area, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.560 and so often because they're not native, they're able to 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:30.240 take over an area and eliminate other native plants. Or 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.320 if a native plant is wiped out and an invasive species, 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:35.640 a non native plant is brought in, then they kind 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.600 of like claim that area. Okay, Settlar colonialism on a 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.800 plant scale and animal scale. Doctor Rio is the perfect 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.400 guest for this episode because when we talk about European colonialism, 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:53.360 it's always through the lens of the Europeans, yep, Like 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.760 they were these great people that they were going out 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.320 and building these ships and sailing across all the seven 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.040 seas and doing this really great work. But there were 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.760 other people on these lands that were already there, living 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:09.200 and thriving before they got there. And in this episode, 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:10.880 we really wanted to talk about the land in the 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.600 context of the indigenous experience, knowledge, and rich history. 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.600 So let's start by talking about the northeast region of 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.680 what is now known as the United States, way before 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:22.080 European colonialism. 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.440 So the Northeast is a huge region. Prior to European contact, 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.400 you had a lot of people. It was, first of all, 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:33.760 very much a peopled landscape. We tend to underestimate not 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:38.000 only the presence of indigenous people, but the influence of 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:39.760 indigenous people on the landscape. 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.160 So not only was the land highly populated by diverse 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.680 indigenous communities, it was also very developed, but not in 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:48.280 a way that was familiar to Europeans. 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.920 When Europeans first laid eyes on, you know, the various 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.559 parts of the Northeast, they misinterpreted those spaces as being 0:08:55.760 --> 0:09:01.560 you know, natural quote unquote, as being wilderness and defining 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.120 that as a place that is sort of, you know, 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.200 kind of it's got the natural ecology going on and 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.719 that doesn't involve human interference or inputs. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.400 Just because they didn't recognize a neat, little English garden 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.640 didn't mean that the land hadn't been cultivated for a 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.360 long period of time. Indigenous tribes in the Northeast were 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:26.240 producing food and medicine within the landscape through really dynamic, 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:31.080 committed relationships with different plants, animals, and ecosystems. 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:35.400 I feel like there's a lot we can learn from 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:41.920 what the relationship is between self and environment right from 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.719 some of these indigenous groups, because you have to think 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.760 if they were making medicine and doing all this stuff, 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.719 but when you show up with your European eyes, you 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:54.319 felt like the land was uninhabited. Right. That speaks volumes 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.960 in my mind right about not disturbing nature, and there 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.600 have to be some clues learn they're about conservation and 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.680 to help us understand this relationship, Doctor Rio told us 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.440 about the important connection between a Nishionabe people, one of 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.320 the indigenous groups in the Great Lakes region of North America, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.680 and their important relationship to wild rice or what is 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:16.840 called in the national language mynomen. 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:21.480 It's a very culturally significant plant and being to Annihanabe people. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.360 It's really a core part of our cultural identity. It's 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.600 a core part of how we understand where we fit 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.280 in the world. And it has an incredible nutritional value too, 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:32.960 and so it's an important part of our food ways. 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.360 We don't just treat it like it we're a relative. 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.319 It's like literally a part of our ken. 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:39.520 It's just like the respect that you have for your 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.920 friends or your family, Like respecting them doesn't mean you know, 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.920 not checking in on them, not giving them the resources 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.560 they need to survive, not talking to them and making 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.839 sure that they're okay, like they approach it the exact 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.200 same way, like it's their family, and the Innitianabe approach 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.719 to the care and harvesting of this world rice is 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:02.320 with the same kind of respect. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.600 The specific ways that we knock rice into our boats. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:11.640 It allows for the plants to produce more seed, and 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.080 for a lot more of that seed to actually germinate 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:15.880 at the bottom of the lake bed than if you 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:17.040 were to not touch it at all. 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:18.920 I mean, I think that's really interesting because when we 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.360 think about respect, sometimes you think that means like leave 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.400 it alone, don't touch it. But in this case, they're saying, 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:29.240 we are doing specific actions to stimulate growth, right, to 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.240 encourage seeds to drop down into this fertile soil and 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:35.360 to grow more plants. 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.440 I think that there's a lot of examples like that 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:41.760 where it's definitely a sort of an indigenous perspective about 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.280 reciprocal relationships between humans and plants and humans and animals. 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:51.040 Indigenous perspectives more often hold that our dynamic engagement with 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.680 those plants and animals helps them to thrive in various ways. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.480 So that's a great point. What about the animals? For 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.000 the Initionabe, there is also great importance on interaction between 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.200 humans and animals. There's a relationship there that requires attention 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.040 and care. Doctor Rio gave us a great example. 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.640 So for Nishanabe folks, some of our oldest teachings about 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:14.200 our connections to other beings on this planet tell us 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.840 that we are on a parallel path with wolves, who 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:23.440 we refer to as Mayingen, and that whatever happens to Mayingen, 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.040 what happened to the Nishanabk. Both Mayingen and a Nishanabek 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.760 rely heavily on wawashkashe or the deer as a really 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.080 important part of our food ways. If the deer population 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:39.320 is suffering, then we'll see Mayingen and a Nishnabek both 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:43.559 populations suffering. And so we're integrally tied together, and our 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:49.320 fates are interwoven, and recognizing that connection makes a Nishanabic 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.439 folks very committed to the well being of both wolves 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:54.000 and deer. 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.280 I think that's a great illustration or example of like 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.240 how we're all tied together. People say it, but like 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.679 this is that in practice. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:08.320 Absolutely like there's no distinction between us and the trees 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:12.280 and the leaves and the grass and the seeds. We're 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.600 all a part of this world ecosystem. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.680 Yeah, so we've learned that for centuries before European colonialism started, 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.960 North America was a densely populated and diverse region where 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:28.800 indigenous peoples thrived by cultivating sophisticated intimate relationships with plants, animals, 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.440 and the rest of the ecosystem around them. But what 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.960 happened when the Europeans got there? How are those balances affected. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.079 We'll get into those questions right after the break. 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:58.640 We're back. And as doctor Rio explained, before European colonialism, 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.840 indigenous communities in North America had for centuries been thriving 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:07.319 off the land through their highly evolved and complex cultural practices, 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.840 specifically their relationship with the environment around them. 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.920 What we know is that these practices were severely disrupted 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.680 when the Europeans arrived. So basically, when Europeans arrived, they're like, 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.400 I don't recognize any of this. This needs to be tamed, 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.400 this needs to be put into, you know, my category 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:27.200 of gardening, or like, I don't. 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.680 Know these animals. Where are the animals that we're used to. 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:34.480 For them, everything was discovery that was waiting to be influenced. 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:39.480 The major effect of European colonialism is the genocide of 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.520 indigenous people period. But there are other things that were 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.200 also affected that doctor Rio helped us dive into more. 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.920 He told us about major changes in four main areas, diseases, 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:55.120 invasive species, deforestation, and global biotic exchange. 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.880 Some of the sort of categorical changes that we have 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.920 seen come from the introduct of diseases. 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.640 My friend was not lying when she said the pilgrims, 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:05.240 that's right. 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:12.080 Tuberculosis, smallpox, the flu. These were all brought from Europe 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:16.800 and contributed to the depopulation of North America. 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.680 These diseases that were brought from Europe to North America, 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:25.000 they were very influential in the severe reduction in the 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.280 human population of the continent prior to the big waves 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.840 of colonization. You know, the changeover from primarily, you know, 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.600 from an indigenous human population to relatively short order a 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:41.280 predominantly euro American settler euro Canadian settler population. You know, 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:43.160 a great deal that had to do with the introduction 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:43.760 of diseases. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:45.880 This is interesting, he said. You know, the severe reduction 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.600 of human population of the continent prior to the big 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.760 waves of colonization. So this is not just violence with 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:56.560 a sword, right, Like, this is biological warfare for real. 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.960 The next area that was greatly affected was invasive species. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:04.360 The introduction of European agricultural systems came with a lot 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:09.760 of associated pest species. So Europeans brought some species on 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:13.440 purpose that had deletorious impacts on the North American landscape, 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:15.600 and then they brought in some as hitchhikers. 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.200 And it's so interesting because you know, the question is 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.760 was it intentional? Was it unintentional? But we know, you 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:26.120 know the Spanish, right, they really pride themselves on being explorers. 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.560 And I think I was reading somewhere that the Spanish 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.120 crown used to require all of their exploratory ships right 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.200 to carry seas and plants and livestocks when they went 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:42.800 on expeditions. Right, this is so they could establish European 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.320 forms of agricultural production. Can you imagine, You're like, I'm 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:48.920 going somewhere, I don't know anything about it, but I'm 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:53.480 taking my cow, taking my pig, a couple of these seeds, 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.480 and it's like, you don't know what those effects are right. 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.000 It's just like if so we live on the East 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.280 Coast to move to Arizona, which is a lot of 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:04.800 desert and things like that, and we say, well, I 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:06.320 don't want to live in the desert. I want to 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:07.840 live and what I'm used to. I want to have 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.119 a lawn I want to have. I don't want to 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.120 have you know, these types of trees. I don't want 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.159 palm trees. I want like a regular maple tree. And 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.040 we go there and we dig up the earth and 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.600 we put down soil that is that a maple tree 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:24.680 can live in, and we change the ecosystem around us 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.960 to fit what we want that is existing on the 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.520 East coast, and that begins to buy default change everything 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:32.400 around it. 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.240 It's like the Butterfly fect. Yeah you know that movie, Yes, 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:39.000 with Ashton Kutcher. Yes, it's like the Butterfly Fact, except 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.240 you don't get to go back and do it over exactly. 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:47.600 And preserving these natural parts of different environments is super 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:52.520 important to the overall health of the ecosystem. 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.959 And it's not only plants but also animals. And then 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.679 one of the more notable one is hogs. So bringing 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.280 in pigs and letting them sort of run free, they 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.280 naturalized and had major impacts on forests of New England 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:04.280 and other other regions. 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:05.119 That's wild to me. 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:06.400 There were no hogs here. 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:08.560 That's the major industry in North Carolina. 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:13.280 When we think about America and how Americans eat, pork 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:18.119 is a major part of that. And I've never considered 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:23.720 that they weren't indigenous to North America. But they've not 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.600 only contributed to our diet, they ate up a lot 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:28.480 of the forests. 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.959 Yeah, you know, I see this in the movies all 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.560 the time, and they say like how pigs and holls 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.800 can totally like rip up roots and everything with their 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:42.399 snouts and clear whole fields of like trees and grasses 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.640 and native grasses. But also I see people use pigs. 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.040 They say they will eat anything, like they will eat humans. 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.000 They will eat Did you know that now, Yes. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.399 So that leads us into the next topic that was 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.680 really affected by colonialism, deforestation. 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:03.040 So European settlers cut down forests in ways that had 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.320 never really been It's not that it's not that indigenous 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.880 peoples didn't cut trees, certainly they did, but the scale 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.719 of timber harvest is that a completely different level by 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:14.720 European settlers. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.439 One thing that the Europeans were doing was cutting down 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.120 a lot of trees, yes, in order to have like. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.440 Rolling hills like they had in Europe. 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.919 Exactly to more so mimic what they had in Europe. 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.320 And then also to like build stuff. And when they're 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.760 shipping things to other countries, they want to put it 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:33.359 into a box, and the cut down a tree to 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.919 build a box for that and things like that. But 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.280 another thing that came along with that is that they 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.679 also were bringing over trees, yes, that are native to Europe, right, 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.960 because they wanted to again mimic the European landscape. And 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.440 these trees when they would bring them over, they would 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:54.080 bring them over the whole tree and roots and everything everything. 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:56.159 And so when you're bringing the roots along, you have 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:58.880 to bring the dirt and soil that it was in. Yeah. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.800 And when they did that unintentionally or intentionally, we're not 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.879 really sure. But they also brought over earthworms. The earthworm 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:11.000 is not something that is native to the United States, 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.000 and so they would come over with the tree, they 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.159 would plant it in the ground, and these earthworms they 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:20.400 spread like wildfire. We see earthworms from sea to shining sea. Okay, 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.800 like they are everywhere, and what we don't know because 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:25.439 when we think about earthworms, we're like, oh, they're so 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:29.800 good for our ecosystem and things like that. But earthworms 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:33.040 also have contributed a lot to deforestation. I'm looking at 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:37.280 this picture from a paper that somebody wrote that shows 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:42.440 two pictures, a picture of a forest with no earthworms, right, 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.800 and a forest that has earthworms, And there is a 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:48.480 clear difference. There's still trees. It looks like a forest 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:50.760 that we would walk through. It has trees, it has 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.120 little bushes, it has you know, logs and everything like that, 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:58.320 but the forest is impacted by earthworm. Conception of leaf 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.760 detritus leave to try is the kid. You can explain 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:02.440 it way better than me. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.919 Yeah, it's just like falling leaf waste or debris. But 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:10.840 that also is like fertilizer, right. That is then those 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.960 nutrients from those deadlys are then reconsumed by that soil. 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.680 They add bat you fall from the tree cover down 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.560 to the ground, you provide nutrients for that soil. 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:22.240 So the earthworms are eating all that stuff up, which 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.199 completely changes the look and feel of the forest. 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.360 And the last of these categories is global biotic exchange. 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:33.880 So this is the movement of products, food, agricultural products 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:35.479 across the globe. 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:39.119 Basically, especially as we as we see the movement of 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:43.480 not just people but sort of products and goods. When 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:46.800 we see global trade pickup, and there's the movement of 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:51.320 products food, agricultural products, but also things that are made 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.720 of wood or that require the packaging of wood and 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:56.800 pallets and things like that, but just the movement of 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:01.240 goods across continents through shipping sort of the globalization of 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.320 our economic system, then we see a huge increase in 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.800 biological introductions across continents, and that's a big impact. 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:09.760 I think an important point to make is that all 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:13.399