Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Right to Life for Plants... the silent species

The original post for The Right to Life for Plants is here.
Plants are the underdog of rights.
We view plants through the what-can-they-do-for-us optic:
that plants give us food, a sense of well-being, visions of beauty,
herbs for our medicines, materials for a number of goods,
oxygen for us to breathe, etc.

The common "plants are here for us to consume-as-we-please" attitude.

But this perspective distracts us from the real one:
that all species are part of a solidly-linked, complex ecosystem.
In addition, the taxonomy classification system (invented by Carl  Linnaeus in 1753)
 enforces the separation of species, rather than unifying all life as a whole.
Links are broken.
All life is separate, named and classified.

The "all life is interconnected & codependent" attitude.
(Photo credit: Hengki Koentzhoro)

I declare the Right to Life for Plants,
the silent underdog of species.
Re-consider the "weed."

Save an acre of rainforest here.
Adopt a seed, save a species, here.



43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Plants are important part to life. They provide us with many things and we should not take them for granted. Just think of what life would be without plants, they bring a certain beauty to the world.-I.C.

Anonymous said...

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, but no matter who you are, the beauty of plants is unmistakebly recognizable. Denying the right to life for plants is the same as denying the right to fresh air. The destruction of these organisms would not only disrupt the ecosystem, but it would throw it off its natural balance. JLF

Anonymous said...

Appreciation for the individuality of species is possible through education. Some people specialize in knowing the various types of roses but the common man will always shove them into one name. I am satisfied to know that each type of living being has a distinct name, and that is enough to support the right to life for plants. ALB

Anonymous said...

Plants make the world we live in beautiful. Plants are what help us breathe and keep going in the lives that we live. We cannot destroy a species because it does not speak. It is its veryown unique ability of the looks and oxygen it provides us that keeps us living. In the end this species is very loud by its expressions given to us.
ABL

Anonymous said...

I support the the Right to Life for Plants. They are beatiful and necessary. Survival of the human race and its other species also depend on the life of plants. How would we eat, reproduce, germinate, and entice the senses without plants? Besides, I think they are beautiful, the colors, the smells,the textures, and the memories they leave implanted in my head. Lilies,all of the lilies,they are my favorite. TL

Anonymous said...

Plants are a real issue and I think in the last few years we have just noticed the effects of loosing trees and deforestation causes. The issues are from the green house gasses to the extinction of animals. Plants should live I can refer this to a book we have all read by Dr. Seuss The Lorax that is a sad world with all the trees being taken away. In the story we also see the man that started cutting the trees and how he regrets his decision. We as humans I don’t think would like to be in that position. Thankfully we are all opening our eyes seeing loved animals go away and temperatures rise we are moving to a more green world and trying to preserve our plant life.
-JPG

Anonymous said...

I agree with the right to plants... the silent species. We have taken advatage of our planets resorces, one of which, are plants. We have distoried hundrends of forests and uprouted thousands of home for the animals that lived there. A simple flower can be nutrition for a number of animals, which in turn, the animal can be nutrition for the people that distroied the flower in the first place.
M.D.L.

Anonymous said...

Plants are living thing too, the have the right to have some respect for then as well. plats make our garden beautiful, our air cleaner and our like better. plants are the green face of the planet and are to the majority of living thing here on earth. I declare the right for plats as important as the right to life.
S.A.

RCW said...

Weeds are a good point. the unrecognized plant. So much benefit and nutrients come from plants. They are so necessary to our ecosystem, but some things will forever be under appreciated until they are completley gone!

Anonymous said...

It is true that we do take plants for granted. We don't appreciate all the things they do for us. We cut them down at the slightest whim without a second thought. As humans, we need to clear away plants only when necessary and be more conscious of our arboreal friends. Deforestation is a huge problem in our rainforests today and it needs to curbed severely. MBS

Anonymous said...

I am completely against breaking any right for plants. Plants are extremely necessary. Without plants it would be difficult to fathom the means of nature. This wouldn't be the earth we know today. I agree that the comfortableness of cutting trees and plants is reaching a limit that we should all recognize. KR

Anonymous said...

Its arrogant of humans to have the attitudes towards plants that they do... plants have been around a lot longer than even the first animals to walk the earth or even swim the oceans. This is their planet. -SAS

Anonymous said...

This is a great post! Many people go about their day caring about themselves, sometimes animals, but forget that plants are our main source of life. We should appreciate these delicate, silent species, and give them their right to life.
-Q.M.

Bruna said...

Plants help to make our existence perfect. We are fed by them, they purify our environment, they make our world pretty, and they even make medicine to cure our ailments. How can they not have the right to exist if we cannot exist without them? Plant life is essential to our world and is the reason for our every breath. Without the basic life support that plants supply, we would not have such higher qualities as happiness, health, and most of all, love. Plants sustain our environment so that we may live and love and find that which makes us content. Plants indeed are life.

Anonymous said...

We need plants to live in this world. Through plants we breathe fresh air, through plants we heal, and through plants we eat. We need plants to live, but they don’t really need us to survive. We live off of what is born from this planet, therefore we are born from this planet, but we do not contribute to our planet like the majority of the species on our planet. We are the only species that controls and examine most of the known species in the world for our own personal gain. To me, that is something to be proud of.
AG

Anonymous said...

We use plants for our needs but plants also use us for their needs. I recently watched a video called "The Botany of Desire." This movie talks about the right of life to plants and it explains a lot, I highly recommend it.

J.R.

Mr.Drama said...

Plants are a significant part of our survival, but many individuals don't consider that plants are species. They are living organisms that emit energy just like you and I.

Anonymous said...

It is true that plants suffer because of human development and I strongly support saving rain forests and other endangered lands. We should take a step back and realize just how special each plant on earth is and what purpose it has. Did you know that of all the 300 plus species of hummingbirds, each species' bill has evolved to drink from a specific flower? Incredible that a whole species evolved over a single plant...Plants should have the right to grow in peace, just as we go in peace.
G.C.

Anonymous said...

We need plants to survive, they provide us with oxygen that we need to live our everyday lives. They also make our planet look beautiful. So we need to give them their rights because they are just important.A.H

Anonymous said...

I agree with the right to life for plants, especially saving rain-forest because not only are they destroying thousands of trees, animals are being affected as well. Plants do more for humans than we tend to think. They provide us with more than oxygen. They give us nutrients/cures that we could not find in anything else. This is enough to support the right to life for plants.
JJ

Anonymous said...

Plats are apart of the circle of life. Without plants there will be no life. They are food for many and always play a crucial part in every living things life. Lets not look pass the importance of the Plant. - SKT

Anonymous said...

I think plants are beings and they deserve to live a life as same as humans with rights of respect and dignity. Plants have to be treated with respect, love, and dignity. there are some organizations that protect plants like Fairchild park in Coral Gables,Fl. Where they teach people specially students to love and respect plants not only for what plants give us ,but because they are living-beings.
by ASR

Fidela said...

The Right to Life for Plants.
The creation of all species is the perfect given gift by God as a whole component to life. This divinity and/or blessing that we all share must be kept consolidated because everything in nature is inter-related. All silent and non silent species must be respected, including the weeds!
Fidela.

Anonymous said...

Plants are an essential resource for human well-being. Plants are used for countless of reasons such as, oxygen, food, medicine, etc. We must take action to preserve them and keep nature on its path.

Anonymous said...

Plants are an essential resource for human well-being. Plants are used for countless of reasons such as, oxygen, food, medicine, etc. We must take action to preserve them and keep nature on its path. J.S

Anonymous said...

Plants affect this ecosystem in such a positive way. If we destroy what gives animals food and oxygen, then we are also destroying the animals. Just as we need water to survive, we need plants to live. Plants definitely have the right to life because if they didn't, then we wouldn't either.- S.S.

Anonymous said...

Plants are indeed "the underdog of rights". We all sometimes neglect the fact that they are more than just things that make the environment beautiful. Plants, like humans, use energy, reproduce, grow, and respond and adapt to their environment. They are living and all living beings have rights. Additionally, without them the human race surely wouldn't be striving as it is today. -JAY

Anonymous said...

I support the Right to Life for Plants. Our lives would not be the same without it. There are so beautiful and fragile. In my case when I feel a little bit down, I love to go to the store and buy some flowers. I just need to smell the fragrance for my mood to change radically.
*NG*

Anonymous said...

Coming from a household where my mother is a florist, I have always had a deep appreciation for flowers. I do agree with the post because they are the underdogs. When was the last time you stopped and thought about how the air you are breathing was caused by plants? I admire their beauty, and aroma, and I certainly don’t take plants for granted. leiva

Anonymous said...

I think that plants should get the funding that other organizations that help other no trivial things get. Plants are vital to the circle of life. with out plants the air we breath would be horrible and hard to breath for and example. Its just sad that people take plants for granted.

A.M.

Anonymous said...

It may seem that plants are the underdog to rights when compared to humans. Nevertheless, if we abuse the existence of plants we eventually end up extinct not just the human race but all other living things. We need plants for a variety of resources including appreciation of there beauty. It is amazing to note, however, that after a fire or natural disasters where the plants and trees are extinguish to the ground, eventually when the sun rises and rain falls, plants begin to grow again. No human can endure those conditions and raise up from the rumble like a plant can. I guest what am trying to say is at the end plants will persevere and we has human are in danger of extinction without them.-YEM

Anonymous said...

I agree with the right "To life for Plants", after all they are the ones who provide the number one source of nourishment in the world, they give us oxygen and for those carnivores out there thinking they don't need plants as a feeding source, where do they think those animals they eat feed from? All thanks to plants.
AYS

Anonymous said...

Is it the underdog because they can’t speak up or is it because they don’t feel pain. Groups around the world fight so that trees in the rain forest are not cut, the trees in our neighborhoods and parks should be just as important.
CP

Anonymous said...

-I support the right too life for plants. plants are a living and breathing species that makes a difference in the world. They deserve respect without them how can we survive. Plants are a huge part of our survival.-J.A.D.

Anonymous said...

Plants are strong species, they endure harsh sun, wind and rain and yet they survive. Some plants have a defense mechanism to protect themselves from predators. Plants do exercise their right to life by pollinating. Their chemistry composition is so unique that it’s being added to hair products in order to protect hair from the harsh elements, chemicals and heat appliances. Plants are an incredible species. BRM

Anonymous said...

Plants: the most underrated species known to mankind. These weeds, trees, bushes, flowers, and grass are overlooked by many. They color our world and provide exceedingly amounts of oxygen for us. How do we repay them? Destroying most of it and not being able to maintain a clean, safe environment. Plants should not be as ignored as they are right now. A silently dominate species is being slowly destroyed. B.K.R

Anonymous said...

No one really appreciate the meaning of plants in the world, they are the most important key to life. Only asking to be taken care of in return. YML

The Wandering Light said...

All life is sacred. Plants do not mean anything to most people, yet they are more important to us than any animal when it comes to survival. So remember the plant! Feed them, water them, talk to them, and thank them. They have saved your life!

Anonymous said...

-I support the right too life for plants. plants are a living and breathing species that makes a difference in the world. They deserve respect without them how can we survive. Plants are a huge part of our survival.-J.D.

Anonymous said...

We need plants in order to survive, that is without question. It's science, photosynthesis is what it is based on generally. There are other types of plants that are not as necessary in life but we need plants! I say we give the right to life for plants because without we could all die. I personally like breathing, so keep plants alive!
RCT

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with the right to plants because not only do plants look beautiful but they are our main source of life. They are easily overlooked not because people don’t care, but they are just not aware of how important they really are to us. E.P.C

Anonymous said...

We don't give plants life, they give us life. The right to life for plants should not be in question. We need them as much or more than they need us. Not to mention the beauty they hold and the happiness they bring. SC

Anonymous said...

Plants are very important to life on our planet. Flowers are the most beautiful expression of nature. The aromas of various flowers are perfect for making perfumes and colognes that are used by people. In my opinion, the human race needs to conserve nature in all parts of the world in order to secure the survival of life. GM