Yesterday I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the plant lab and greenhouses on UCSC’s Coastal Science Campus. An energetic and enthusiastic self-styled “grower” showed us plants grown in huge machines that precisely control temperature, light, and moisture, and a large autoclave used to sterilize soil. Inside the greenhouses were various experiments. One released a group of moths among hybridized and homogeneous plants to find out which the moths preferred, by counting the encounters–how?! One paired Douglas tree seedlings with Scotch broom to find out exactly how the latter is impeding restoration of the former–a study funded by lumber companies. Another greenhouse had just been emptied after a lizard study. A series of pools contained mosquito fish, readying for a study to find out how they effect native species other than mosquitos.

Although I’ve mentioned a lot of animals, there were mostly plants! USCS is responsible for a lot of native habitat restoration on their campus and on their reserve lands, and as the season was almost over, tour members were offered up to six each of leftover sprouted plants to take home. Since all plants have a good chance of being killed by black-thumbed me, I took only two, one for me and one for a friend. I chose a type I had read about in the news: Dudleya.

Dudleya is a succulent native to the West Coast that is ridiculously popular in Korea, China, and Japan, so much so that plants are being dug from unattended California hillsides and remote areas of parks for shipment to those countries, where the plants sell for $40-$50 each, sometimes in football-stadium-sized arenas. Dudleya can be grown of course, but stealing them is faster, and demand is enormous. Authorities have confiscated thousands this year, and California communities are organizing volunteer re-planting events.

Unlike pangolin scales and shark fins, dudleyas are not credited with healing or epicurean properties. They’re cute. They require some understanding in order to make them thrive, so successful cultivation indicates knowledge and attention to detail, characteristics prized in east Asia. They resemble lotus plants. They are a sign of middle class status. Some people become obsessed by them, amassing quite large home collections.

Whether based on style, status, health, or pleasure, our demands are too great for Nature to supply. There are just too many of us. I wonder what I am using too much of? No need to wonder, I have a chart:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-humans-live-well-without-pillaging-the-planet/

Look at the circles near the bottom. For Americans, the answer appears to be Materials, Land, whatever causes nitrogen and phosphorus use (food?) and whatever causes CO2 emissions (fossil fuels!). That gives me some goals.