ANALYZING… FILE TYPE: Civic Recording PERIOD: Colony Era SPEAKERS: Botanist [ID: ADIA], Soren Gleison [ID: SGLE] TOPIC: Botany Town Hall SUMMARY: Recorded segment of a public educational presentation from New Cascadia's botany team. This format of public engagement was more common during the initial period of colonization. =================================================================== [ADIA]: And that concludes my town hall presentation. I'll open the floor for audience questions now, ah… [ADIA]: Yes, over there. Please introduce yourself. [SGLE]: Soren. I work near the Hauler. I've seen plants from Earth growin' all over our excavation sites. Are we just allowing what we brought with us to invade the native ecosystem? [ADIA]: Ah, ecological balance is one of our top priorities, but there's some nuance here, so bear with me. [ADIA]: Humans co-evolved with other organisms on Earth, from our gut bacteria to skin mites. We can't survive without them. [ADIA]: The truth is that our presence has already changed Tau Ceti IV. By breathing the air and touching the dirt, we've introduced "alien" life to this ecosystem. [ADIA]: We can't enforce artificial separation between what came from Earth and what's native to Tau Ceti. Life finds a way around rigid barriers. [SGLE]: That sounds like a corporate excuse, no offense. [ADIA]: Fair enough. If you want a promise that we won't disrupt Tau Ceti's environment, I can't give it to you. [ADIA]: But Dr. Barron's team curated the Exoplanet Seed Vault to be as compatible with this world as possible… and with the lowest risk of displacing native life. [ADIA]: Ideally, we introduce the organisms we need with minimal disruption and coevolve with the life that's already here. [SGLE]: Nothing's ideal. Nothing's turned out the way we expected. [ADIA]: I know. We could ruin this planet like we did to so much of Earth. We could end up in the same fatal resource loop as Mars. [ADIA]: But… I have to believe we can learn, grow, and do better. How else will we survive? =================================================================== TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]