I foundAn Organismal Christmas from a saved Google News search for parasite. This student project was covered here. The saved news searches (as RSS feeds in any reader, though I use it on my iGoogle homepage) have me reading lots of small town stories I might miss otherwise.

I also really appreciated this piece at the nytimes.com on the topic of ethical eating: Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too. The author left out the fact that often plant seeds need to be eaten in order to germinate. There are analogies I think to raising hens for their eggs or dairy cows for their milk or honey bees for their honey to pick just three obvious ones. If they are treated humanely and not all the resources are taken, it is hard to see the problem with this practice. I also like the discussion of food and ethics in A Language Older Than Words.

That saved search netted a couple other interesting reads about mistletoe that are worth posting today:

From parasite to pucker-power

Mistletoe: Parasite with pagan roots

The real definition of charismatic is pretty subjective and that’s a problem when it comes to justifications. One of my favorite blogs for finding new photos of beautiful animals is paradoxically called Ugly Overload (warning: the ads for pest control are depressing and remind you that much of humanity considers itself at war with nature to varying degrees).

You’re probably familiar with this quote…

A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

I can forgive his anthropocentric views today. That was the better argument for his time (and perhaps ours too) for preservation.