In this blog post I will trace the development of the “Asian” carp invasion. The obvious reason for this is to discuss how these carp crossed biogeographic regions to become an “invasive species” in North America from, well, Asia, one that has had an enormous influence on environmental politics in the American Midwest. Though there is a subtler, yet perhaps more important, reason why the Asian carp invasion is worth investigating. This invasive species event highlights the need for a larger spatial and temporal view of the often surprising, unintentional ways in which human beings are crisscrossing and altering nature (as well as the indelible ways nature is altering us).