August 2023

As an ecologist, I am constantly wrestling with my conscience concerning life decisions. The world, like individual life forms, is fragile and can be damaged by meteors, volcanos and life-form occupants. However, the biosphere is also robust and will change in response to an insult from the life forms that occupy it. An insult can be a physical abuse as well as a vocal one. Currently, humans are insulting the planetary biosphere by digging up the composted, fossilised material of past life and burning it in the atmosphere for energy that destabilises in the global climate. With this in mind, we all have to make day-to-day decisions that may contribute to this condition or ameliorate it.

I am committed to working for the maintenance of biodiversity and a healthy globe, and I regret any consequence of my actions that may lead to the death of some life form. Examples include insects killed in collision with my car as I drive, or damage to ecosystems when I release pollutants. However, sometimes self-preservation kicks in and I find myself having to deliberately control some organism or other. I always mentally express my regret for doing so. The other day, I noticed a paper ball being formed in my garage roof. It was an Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) colony forming. There was a queen and about 20 workers building this nest. However, a sting from this species has been known to kill a human, so I had to make a decision to stop this colony from increasing. Therefore, sadly, I had to humanely send them to the great hornet’s nest in the sky. Asian hornets have only recently found their way to Europe (c. 2004), and this is almost certainly due to human activity. However, European hornets (Vespa crabro) are altogether more passive, more so than their sometimes aggressive smaller common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) cousins, and I for one am content to leave the native hornet species, even though it is larger, to complete its life cycle. Generally, they will not bother a human if a human does not bother them.

So how do I try to offset my negative consequences? Well, I try to adjust my lifestyle, for example, planting and cultivating new trees, establishing nest-boxes for animals, recycling as much as possible, mowing as little as possible, reducing meat consumption, using legs, cycles and public transport when appropriate, but, not flying in planes if it can be avoided.