The world is cruel and ugly. There are plenty of justifiable things to be upset and distraught over. I don’t want to hear about those. I want to know what bizarre out of left field takes you have that infuriates you.
I’m still upset about Tenochtitlan falling and being buried. I’m a gringo, I shouldn’t have an opinion about Lake Texcoco being drained centuries ago.
Invasive species.
My region is absolutely infested with Siberian Elm and Tree Of Heaven (A.K.A., the “semen tree”). You cannot cut them down, because they will resprout like a hydra from the stump. You cannot dig them out, because the smallest root left behind can and will resprout wherever it is, leading to a many-year game of whack-a-mole.
I have near-daily fantasies of going around with a powerful backpack sprayer filled with glyphosate (Round-Up) and an application wand that can extend from 1m to 10m, and hitting everything just as they’re sending nutrients to the roots for winter.
The problem is, Glyphosate is highly restricted to purchase and own in Canada unless you have both the appropriate class of Pesticide Applicator’s License (an agricultural variant, for example) as well as the venue to use it in (own or manage an orchard, for example). Thankfully my family owns an orchard, and I am starting the process for the former.
But still. It’s an absolutely bizarre thing to be obsessing over and I. Just. Cannot. Help. Myself. Every time I drive and see clumps of those disgusting trees, I start to uncontrollably strategize how I could hit them with glyphosate in late September.
I hate the spotted lanternflies! When they’re small and black and white they hop and scare me! When they’re a bit bigger and red they’re more scary! Then they get WINGS. Eurgh.
We also have the tree of life around which is what they enjoy munching on. I’d like both gone!
I found out all the ladybugs here are the invasive ones. And if I want to buy ladybugs for pest control, I can only buy the invasive ones. Annoying.
We do at least still have some native pollinators and other bugs.
Lanternflies are so pretty! But there are so many of them again this year.
One of the hallmarks of a destabilizing and imminently pre-collapse ecosystem is when certain fast lived species like insects have sudden surges or collapses in population.
And I’m talking about short-lived species that typically have yearly cycles. Something that can respond very quickly to sudden surges or absences in food or environmental niches, but which does not normally see sudden population fluctuations in a healthy ecosystem.
insects, and plants.
also people mistaken the asian lady beetle for native ones, and those are also invasive and very noxious.
blue gum here, cali doesnt want to get rid of this invasive species, because its “iconic” its a huge fire hazard, and they are designed to burn due to massive amount of oils they produce in thier native environment of australia. they also grow very fast compared to montery pine and cypress. Also thier leaves and bark drop very frequently and that is also a fire hazard because of the oils, and they have allelopathic affects near the trees.
We have Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) here.
Ive been battling it for years. I mentioned bittersweet in my comment down thread, but I’ve won my battle with bittersweet. I pluck it everyyear and keep it at bay. I have not won with this fast growing (so fast) shrub tree. You cut it down, it grows back triple, relentlessly. It’s everywhere. I hate it so much. If it could just chill and be a bush, it would be fine, but no, ive a 40 foot tree bush in the back that was cut to stub 5 years ago. 40 feet tall, in five years. I hate chemicals, but when I get to the day I can afford to haul away 40 ft of tree bush brush, I will definitely be spraying this shit this time around. Fuck invasives. I go down the road and the forest edges are just bittersweet and autumn olive, also called japanese silverleaf. It’s ugly.
Russian thistle. These asshole things pop up all over the yard and driveway and I go around and pull them out of the ground with welding gloves. Sometimes I get stabbed even through welding gloves. I can completely understand why someone would blast a cancer causing chemical across their whole yard. I’ve been experimenting with everything else but I’m too worried about my dog to do roundup.