Are we blind to the life that keeps our world alive? 🌿🌱
Plant blindness is shaping how we see (or don’t see) the natural world. Botanist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer challenges us to rethink the “green wallpaper,” we’ve learned to ignore. Behind every leaf is biodiversity, intelligence and resilience. Whether we live in a city or the countryside, this disconnection has consequences, for conservation, for climate, and for our relationship with the living world.
by TheMuseumOfScience
10 Comments
Native planting has really opened my eyes to the greenery around me, but it’s more of a “coming out of the matrix” scenario where I realize everything everywhere is invasive Japanese honeysuckle. Important realization but also depressing.
Dr Kimmerer is a national treasure. I encourage anyone that appreciates our natural world (which is really all of us) to read her books and deepen your connections to our collective natural heritage.
This seems like a good point but everyone has a limit to the information they can process. No one is going to be an expert in every field they encounter. It is unrealistic to expect everyone has an interest in all the plants around them. It would be beneficial if people understood there local environment and where their food comes from but that still may be a significant ask of many people beyond what they actually are interested in / feel like affects their daily lives.
I keep seeing clips of this interview, where can I get the whole interview?
Her points are great but that’s not usually what I see “plant blindness” used for. ime, it’s about how when you don’t know the name/appearance of a plant you don’t notice it at all, but when it becomes familiar you can see it everywhere.
If you’re interested in more from Robin Wall Kimmerer, she wrote “Braiding Sweetgrass,”. “Gathering Moss,” and “The Serviceberry.” I highly recommend any and all of these books.
Does it count if I’m glued to my phone id’ing plants?? 🤣
No seriously, I listened to the audiobook of The Serviceberry the other day and cried like 5 times. Everyone needs to listen to this woman.
This has definitely been true for me. Before I began to educate myself, plants were just plants. I hardly noticed them except to be like,
“Green things are nice. Flowers are pretty.” Now I am shocked that I could have failed to notice the variety, the way they change with the seasons, the way insects interact with them, and so much more. I was incredibly blind! Makes me wonder what else I am missing.
I just finished The Service Berry and Braiding Sweetgrass recently. Such great books. Also the hidden life of trees really opened my eyes more as well. Within the last several years I’ve gotten quite into gardening, keeping a veggie garden in summer and indoor plants the rest of the year, this year I started my native plant journey and it’s honestly so relaxing to be able to put my phone down and be outside just enjoying the life out there. Of course I’m laying here on Reddit right now, but there’s a much better balance overall of screen vs natural world time going on and I’m better for it
MY FAVORITE AUTHORRRRRR