“We can no longer hope to coexist with other animals if we continue to wage war on their homes and food supplies. This simple tenet provides an imperative, particularly for the bird and butterfly lovers among us, to fight invasive aliens as if it really matters and to reevaluate our centuries-old love affair with alien ornamentals” (Tallamy 14)

This passage was intriguing because of the importance it places on returning to planting native species. Gardeners love when their garden looks the most beautiful and attracts the most attention but what does that even mean if we are destroying the livelihood of the pollinators that sustain the gardens? I really like the metaphor here about “waging war”. We are slowly destroying the habitats of the most important parts of our ecosystems and food chains when we bring in foreign plants. This made me think, does it even matter that we preserve large masses of land (via national parks) to protect endangered species if in our backyards we have been destroying the ecosystem building blocks that sustain the park wildlife?