Henry Ford once said, “don’t find fault; find a remedy.”
According to the National Invasive Species Council, an invasive species is defined as an alien species whose non-native introduction does, or is likely to, cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Another definition, this one by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, states that invasive species are “animals, plants or other organisms introduced by man into places out of their natural range of distribution...generating a negative impact on the local ecosystem and species.” But none of these terms or the lists of the world’s worst invasive species include possibly the worst of them all. Humans.
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Breaking those definitions down, Homo sapiens fit every aspect. An invasive species is widespread; humans are found somewhere on every continent and are literally the over the globe. Invasive species are non-native; Humans have colonized every continent somehow, usually by forcing out whatever population or species was there before. An invasive species had adverse effects on the new habitat or is harmful to human health; humans fit into this part of the definition in more ways than one.
Humans even wrote the definition on what classifies as an invasive species.
While some people argue that humans are not invasive species, due to a close reading of the definition, we can’t deny that may be more harmful to the environment than any other animal. In the last fifty years, human activities have drastically changed earth’s ecosystem in efforts to meet the increased demands of our ever-growing population.
From removing natural habitats to make room for urban communities to excessive industrial activities to a significant increase in air pollution to constant deforestation, the human race has had a significant, negative impact on the place we call home. We will never truly destroy earth, however, because the planet finds a way to change and adapt to new conditions. It’s how the environmental changes affect the human population. Humans need a certain amount of food and water, resources that are slowly but surely going to run out. We can only live in certain temperatures and we require clean air.
So whether humans are an invasive species or not does not matter. In the end, we’re the ones who have made this mess. And we’re going to have to be the ones to clean it up.
