Invasion and Citizen Mobilization: Urban Natures in Dalian

Abstract

of volunteers met to pull invasive plants in Dalian, a major port city in northeast China. Participants included recent high school graduates and individuals who had been retired for years, men and women, regular activists and new participants. All had gone through training provided by a wellestablished environmental organization about the targeted plant and its damage to the local ecosystem. After driving to the roadside not far from the universities where the work was to be done, the volunteers pulled protective clothing out of their bags— long sleeved shirts, long pants, gloves, and scarves for their heads and mouths— to ward off scratches and insects (see figure 7.1, top). They also shared machetes, clippers, and shovels, and tossed water bottles to each other because of the heat. When I attended another outing with the same organization in the summer of 2011, about twentyfive people congregated to listen to the director describe the invasive weeds and insects that had been introduced with imported plants and were impacting the local ecosystem. They passed around a sample leaf for everyone to see and touch, and then asked participants to pull them, which they did for about an hour before sitting together for lunch, chatting, and taking photos (see figure 7.1, bottom). The physicality and materiality of such volunteering seem to be critical aspects of these experiences— the heat; the chopping, cutting and pulling of the plants; the backs bent and glovedhands grabbing; the protective clothes; and the shared water, and often shared snacks. The plants themselves, described as invasive, indicative of things out of place and problematic, may be understood as active parts of the social processes of volunteering, which intertwines the work of nongovernmental organizations 7 Invasion and Citizen Mobilization: Urban Natures in Dalian