THE COLOMBIAN EXCHANGE

7/8/2013 THE COLOMBIAN EXCHANGE

THE COLOMBIAN EXCHANGE:  WHEN LARGE ORGANISMS MEET SO DO ALL OF THE MICRO ORGANISMS THAT ARE ON BOARD. Updated 1/29/2016  

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 Photo by Peter Griffinhttp://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=1080&picture=rat 

 Small organisms travel on large organisms. For example have you ever wondered about how those isolated small lakes and ponds develop fish populations when they aren't stocked? Often what happens is that shore birds bring in fertile fish eggs from a water body with a breeding population of fish in the slime on their feet, or caught in their feathers. If the flight isn't too long or too hot and dry often the eggs are accidentally transplanted in a new favorable but previously un-colonized environment. Organisms large and small often find their way aboard ships. When you don't deploy the rat guards for example you invite not only rats along for the ride but also any insects like fleas that are living on the rat. Gravid egg laying life forms like reptiles can colonize an entire environment from a single arriving female carrying fertile eggs that survives long enough to nest.  The Colombian exchange is a difficult thing to control. In previous posts in a series that is becoming an E-book called PROTOCOLS we examined the question of future Colombian Exchanges as we explore outer space. In our present discussion of the on going and worsening crisis in exotic intrusion in the United States we really couldn't offer a much better explanation of the concept of the Colombian Exchange than that which we posted as part of the series titled SPACE AS AN OCEAN , The basis for our evolving E-book PROTOCOLS. We think by representing the concept of a Colombian Exchange in its historical context juxtapositioned against the future concern of encountering such an exchange as a result of space flight  underscores the importance of finally dealing in an effective and comprehensive way with the past and on going Colombian exchange that began in 1492 and is raging out of control in the United States today. If we can't deal with our earthly Colombian Exchange how likely is it that we will deal effectively with extraterrestrial exchanges? Below is a reprint of our explanation of the Colombian Exchange with links to recommended readings in "SPACE AS AN OCEAN" and below that we've reprinted the conclusion to the series which also addresses Colombian Exchanges. TOMMORROW THROUGH THE MECHANISM OF AN OLD FILM WE WILL LOOK AT THE WORK OF THE USPHS IN THE 1930s A TIME WHEN WE WERE SEEMINGLY GETTING THE UPPER HAND ON THE COLOMBIAN EXCHANGE.

SPACE AS AN OCEAN

                                      image NASA

LESSONS FROM THE AGE OF EUROPEAN MARINE EXPLORATION FOR THE SPACE AGE.

 From the Book "PROTOCOLS" (c) 2012 by American Admiralty Books

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WHEN WORLDS GREAT AND SMALL COLLIDE

 Extinctions of species as well as societies, and the spread of disease as well as of useful plants and animals occurred when the Old and New Worlds met. Parallels could occur in space exploration. We need to examine existing protocols and past protocols from the moon missions and how well they worked. Such an examination suggests that much work is needed in this area before our first encounter with extraterrestrial life. South America exported the potato to Ireland which some think was a mixed blessing at best. Europe received corn from the Americas but to this day utilizes it mostly as animal feed. Unlike Americans of European descent today's Europeans have yet to raise or purchase the "sweet" varieties of corn that Americans consume without first passing it through a bovine digestive system for conversion to beef.  Europeans reintroduced the horse to the Americas and while mounted on them drove a number of native civilizations to extinction. Microbes were exchanged some beneficial like those needed in the processing of yogurt and wine, others like small pox, the natives would have been pleased to have avoided. This entire two way traffic in living stuff we call "the "Colombian Exchange" and it is still ongoing. As we discuss the pros and cons of such exchanges and the needed protocols to control and mitigate the undesirable changes we will simply refer to any such exchange whether between the Americas and Europe, or Asia or Earth and outer space or other planets as a "Colombian Exchange". We aren't the first to coin that term, perhaps we are the first to use it as a generic term for similar events past and future. If you wish to read deeper into the subject than our brief treatment allows we suggest:

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 "Thirty years ago, Alfred Crosby published a small work that illuminated a simple point, that the most important changes brought on by the voyages of Columbus were not social or political, but biological in nature. The book told the story of how 1492 sparked the movement of organisms, both large and small, in both directions across the Atlantic. This Columbian exchange, between the Old World and the New, changed the history of our planet drastically and forever." Amazon BK Desc. 

 Whenever two populations of organisms that have been in isolation meet there is an exchange of micro organisms right down to the *viral level where scientists aren't too sure they are actually looking at an "organism".(See SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN  Are Viruses Alive? http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/yellowstone/viruslive.html ).   Small pox did more to conquer the Central American civilizations than Toledo steel swords and smooth bore musketry. When visible worlds collide small worlds collide as well, the tiny worlds of virus, bacteria, protozoa and whatever else that we haven't discovered as yet that might be out there.  The whatever else is particularly unsettling when we consider some of the unusual ideas of Sir Fred Doyle, Chandra Wickramasingle and others who propose that on extremely rare occasions genetic material not of this earth reaches here. While this is not a mainstream scientific idea, there is some serious science in their arguments and most of the main stream scientific community falls a little short calling the idea impossible. So lets consider just for a minute that Doyle might be right. Lets consider that in the light of the loss of Gus Grissom's first space capsule in the Atlantic Ocean. To this day we don't know why upon return to earth the hatch of the capsule blew open and almost drowned Grissom.  The open hatch allowed the capsule to fill with sea water, and sink to the bottom of the ocean, the cradle of life on this planet. Like Doyle's critics we don't think there was a serious chance that the exterior surface of the capsule would have picked up a virus like "organism" and that it would have survived the fiery entry of the capsule, but suppose the such a capsule had samples of Mars soil on board? Why was all of the post landing inquiry focused of what exactly happened to cause the door to malfunction vice how do we assure that in a landing gone wrong stuff that could be harboring extraterrestrial life does not come into contact with environment?

 During the Apollo era astronauts returning from the Moon were kept in isolation as a precaution against their carrying virus like pathogens from the surface of the moon. The length of time of their isolation was based loosely on known incubation periods for known pathogens on earth. It doesn't look like anyone asked if non earth evolved pathogens might have a longer incubation period. Moon soil samples likewise didn't seem subjected to any really out of the box sanitation measures. Despite recent discoveries here on earth of life forms at the bottom of the sea in sulphur vents, and hot springs that don't seem to be subject to the environmental conditions once thought essential to any type of life , we haven't seen a broad spectrum isolation protocol come out of NASA with our recent robotic probes of Mars. When we do return a soil sample what will be our sanitary protocol?

 We don't have to meet ET to be exposed to really deadly pathogens. In fact it is far more likely that the first life we encounter out there will be microscopic. If some Buzz Lightyear of the future gets eaten on an alien world by an extraterrestrial version of a T-Rex we're out one astronaut. If an astronaut brings back an alien virus for which we have no resistance or cure, it could be the end of all life on earth. But then again microbes aren't the only hazard. Ever seen parts of Mississippi over run by Kudzu? The Kudzu vines looks vaguely like a creeping ivy. Its not native to the U.S. Deep south, but it sure likes it. This at first seemingly harmless  item of exchange in the Colombian Exchange didn't hitch hike here on some banana boat. We brought it here for the hoped for beneficial effect of erosion control in areas of very sandy soil and heavy rain. Road cuts in parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia were eroding faster than nature could heal them and it was thought the fast growing Kudzu could put a stop to it. Well the Kudzu liked the Deep South just fine and not only covered the road cut scar but continued right up into the pine forests clear to the top of the trees and then spread a canopy from tree to tree until, almost before anyone noticed it,  a hundred acre forest could be smothered , cut off from light and killed. But the emerald green  Kudzu looked happy draped across trees dead or alive. If we find a plant out there are we going to bring it back? You can bet on it. Do we have sufficient protocols in place to insure it stays in isolation and never gets out into Earth's natural environment? We're not so sure on that.

                                                                         

 Ask your self this. Is that image pictured above supposedly an artist's approximation of an alien "face" as described by many "witnesses" so often it has almost become our standard image of a space alien actually a face or could it be a bio barrier mask. Are those big eyes with no pupils or dark protective lenses? How could any creature breath through nostrils that tiny or get enough to feed an energetic biped over five feet tall through that tiny slit of a mouth? Might it be that what has been seen, assuming that anything has actually been seen, is the air intake and exhaust of a bio hazard safety mask? Have you ever noticed in the descriptions of these beings there is never any mention of real clothing, nor of any sex organs or secondary sexual characteristics? Could it be that we are seeing something like a thin wet suit and mask designed to keep micron sized pathogens out of the suit and to keep the personal kooties of who ever is in there locked in? Wouldn't that be a nice courtesy. The Aztecs and Mayans would certainly have appreciated such thoughtfulness from the Spaniards. Maybe if we are being visited, our visitors are far more courteous and safety minded than the history of our last wave of first contact experiences.

 Another troubling parallel between our maritime experiences and our space experiences is the possibility that government protocols applicable to government run missions may not be nearly enough. We are already developing a space launch and flight industry. There are private satellite launch services operating already and private "space planes under development.  There is just about no doubt that by the time we are pushing manned flight beyond our solar system there will be a lot of non government commercial traffic in our solar system. When Columbus headed out for the unknown western Atlantic the Western World had about 5,000 years of maritime trade development behind it. There were international norms in the process of ship "entry" the process of a ship formally and peacefully entering a port to engage in trade, there was considerable international uniformity in the process of "Pratique", meaning the conditions that a ship was expected to adhere to once it was formally entered and granted official permission to hold communications with the shore.  Finally the process of "clearance" was very uniform through out the European Atlantic and Mediterranean world, that process where in a ship presents proofs that it adhered to the conditions of its pratique while in port and is cleared by the port authorities for its next destination. Despite the experience that European merchant captains had with such a system, they ignored the evidence that the Mayans had such a system and just barged right on in.

 Now more than 500 years later our own maritime practices of entry, pratique, and clearance are still adjusting especially in the way of ship sanitation. The lamprey and the zebra mussel have caused major changes in our rules about the ballast water discharge. Our sanitation measures failed us completely in the realm of rat guards, the Norwegian rat is now a universal pest. Despite our best efforts fire ants got off the boat at Mobile and are over running the American South. Centuries after the start of the Colombian Exchange and we are still struggling with the creation of regulations, regulatory agencies to try and slow the processes of exotic intrusion and native flora and fauna stress, and frequently our own economic distress. Maritime history is ripe with examples of those who deliberately side stepped the established safe guards and profited by increasing the stresses of the Colombian Exchange. We are heading out into space with an already evolving private transport industry without any development for the entry, pratique, or clearance of cargo carrying traffic.

 We have a remarkable lack of protocols for where we are going. Our maritime technologies and institutions had thousands of years of development before the European Recognisance and we still ended up eliminating entire civilizations, major human populations, hundreds of plant and animal species, and spread disease all over the globe. Yet the average world citizen today would vote for the continued globalization rather than to go back to the era when great civilizations went for centuries with little knowledge of each other. Going into space involves big risks and big rewards but our maritime experience points to the necessity to proceed with caution and to develop serious, detailed, protocols. If ET has been watching us as so many Ufologists suspect, his people have been watching us for a good thousand years or more. Yet there is no official contact. If they are real could it be they have learned through bitter experience to be very careful on first contact with any sort of life? We need to avoid doing anything rash.

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SPACE AS AN OCEAN

                                 image NASA     

LESSONS FROM THE AGE OF EUROPEAN MARINE EXPLORATION FOR THE SPACE AGE.

 From the Book "PROTOCOLS" (c) 2012 by American Admiralty Books

CONCLUSION

 We've now come to the end of the line of our excerpts from the book PROTOCOLS. This final excerpt which we present as a conclusion for the essays presented in this series is actually from the original book proposal and recounts what the entire series of essays is meant to convey.

 There are important lessons to be learned from the age of sail exploration that will be beneficial in the age of space exploration and now is the time to examine these lessons.(Editor's note: And since we seem to have unlearned these lessons of late, now is the time to reexamine them in terms of maritime and aviation entry practices, and our own invasive species and micro organism border control organization and practices)

 Before the dawn of history mankind had migrated to the far corners of the earth , peopled all of the continents except Antarctica and peopled many of the oceanic islands. The migrations were the result of many individual and small group decisions and occurred over thousands of years. Tribes, nations, civilizations evolved in relative isolation separated by vast distances, especially vast oceans. By the time of the European Recognizance entire civilizations existed in relative to complete ignorance of each other. Then these civilizations collided when European explorers such as Columbus and Magellan appeared on scene. In about a century the world went from an age of tentative exploration to an age of colonial conquest and rule. During the age of exploration and the subsequent colonial conquest, entire civilizations, languages, religions, plant, and animal species were wiped out. Both conqueror and conquered became exposed to and died of previously unknown diseases.

 Today we have pushed off into space. Space travel at present, is too complex and expensive to anticipate any migratory process. However now at the very beginning of what will probably prove to be a very long era of exploration we have already received some most important information from such efforts as the Hubble telescope. Plain and simply here is that news. Other planets circle other stars, some of these planets have atmospheres, and water is more common in the universe than previously thought. The second news item is that the new theoretical physics informs us that light speed may not be the absolute speed limit in the universe and that faster than light travel actually may be possible. So we are faced with the reality that it is more probable than not that other inhabitable real estate exists in the universe and that we will probably eventually develop the means to find it. But what or who might we find there? Now is the time to think about the protocols of space exploration so that our first encounter with other life be it a microbe, a plant, or an intelligent, self aware being will not turn out like the last time when worlds, long separated by a seemingly uncross-able ocean collided. (Editor'snote: This is especially true now that we seem to have forgotten what it takes to control a border in terms of invasive species and disease. It is worth the time to take a look at the level of effort once expended on this when the effort was led by the U.S. Public Health Service. Tomorrow we will do that through some rare USPHS 1930s film of the processes and organization. Not all of the specific methods employed then would be practical or effective today. What is important in tomorrow's film is the paramilitary organization required, the clear agency leadership, and the effort required back when it looked like the United States was on the verge of finally mitigating and controlling the ill effects of the Colombian Exchange. We are not being over run by invasive species and annual versions of the flu today by any lack of knowledge of control measures. Today we are overrun because of a lack of leadership and central coordination of the effort. Tomorrow join us for a look at a time when the effort was led with paramilitary precision.)