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Part One:
We speak with Judith Weis, Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, about the surprising conclusions from her research on saltmarsh ecology. As climate change erodes U.S. coastlines, an invasive plant could become an ally. Phragmites are a tall marshgrass/reed, often found near fresh and brackish wetlands, where salt-water merges into fresh water. Land managers and communities along the coastline spend a lot of time trying to eradicate phragmites, because they are invasive – not native to our environment -and they tend to crowd out more diversified native species. Managers prefer Spartina alterniflora, which is native to America.
It turns out, however, that phragmites have certain effects that are beneficial to the ecology of the marsh, especially as, over time, climate changed has become a serious threat to our planet. We conclude that it is important to analyze all the details of any phenomenon – the pros and the cons – in order to make a reasoned decision about how to proceed. Moreover, even if a prior analysis seemed to point to one conclusion, we must continually rethink our decisions because the science, the facts, the repercussion and the context change over time.
Part Two:
We talk about the all-volunteer military with Major Danny Sjursen, a US Army strategist and former history instructor at West Point. We recognize the unfairness created by our current military protocol: Less than 1% of Americans serve in the military (even if we count the National Guard, which was originally not intended to be used for full-time deployment). And the Americans who do serve are very different from the 1% who own most of the wealth in our country.
The main “benefit” of having an all-volunteer force (a “benefit” only for American political and military leaders, not a benefit for ordinary American people) is that those leaders can make decisions about getting involved in wars overseas, without having to worry about protests (based on exposure to grave personal risk), as used to occur when we had a broadly-conscripted military. The people most directly affected by our waging war tend to be the most vulnerable and marginalized segment of our population, people whose voices are not often listened to in the halls of power.
