Archive Article: January, 2010
The effects and consequences of humans on plants, animals and the environment is something that is often written about. But, have you ever wondered how plants affect humans? One thing is certain, this relationship is complex; we are simply an element in nature just as plants are elements in nature and interaction exists. But, is that interaction positive or negative? You are about to find out.
Plants and people have an intimate connection that evolves around sustainable, environmental and social-psychological parameters. Indeed there are many factors that make plants an important resource to local communities and individuals. The interests of farmers, policy makers, the pharmaceutical industry, industrialists, biodiversity conservationists, local cultural groups and hobby growers alike relate, in some form, to plants. All cultures depend on plants in different ways, without exception.
The academic discipline that deals with people’s interactions with plants is called Ethnobotany. As a unit of an ecological study, the definition of Ethnobotany is varied but there are some common elements in the concept. It is broadly defined as the study of the relationship between plants and people. Similar to the major necessities of life, we may not realize how important plants are until we no longer have them.
So, how do plants really affect us?
Environmentally
Replenishing O2 supply: Using the sun’s energy, plants convert carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars and oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. Along with carbon dioxide, plants also need water, which is gathered by the plant’s roots to make food. The stomata allow oxygen to be released through this process. Oxygen is an important exchange for all living things; plants take in carbon dioxide and give off the oxygen that we need to breathe.
Preventing soil erosion: The roots of vegetation, trees, ground cover, shrubs and other plants hold soil in place on the ground. Soil will not blow away due to wind, or be washed away from rain as easily.
Cooling buildings and neighborhoods: In a city like Chicago where more than 700 people died during a July ’95 heat wave, one benefit of green roofs that is clearly important is their capacity to mitigate the “urban heat island effect” that makes cities hotter than surrounding suburbs. Higher urban temperatures derive from mile after mile of concrete and other heat-absorbing materials; in contrast, the plants on green roofs cool the air and reduce ozone formation.
Plants take in carbon dioxide and give off the oxygen that we need to breathe.
Socially and Aesthetically
- improve property value
- provide a sense of community
- foster sense of well-being
- provide aesthetically-pleasing environments
What about the stress relief that plants provide? Studies have proven that plants provide relief to sick people in hospitals and boost life satisfaction for humans in general. Hospital gardens, an atrium in a business center, a small fountain with fauna in a busy shopping mall; we owe it to society and to ourselves to investigate this more. When workers catch a view of natural surroundings like trees and flowers they suffer less job stress and feel more satisfaction. They also report fewer headaches and ailments than workers with no outside view or those who only have the benefit of a view from an office window.
Overall positive feelings increase; fear and anger is reduced when views of plants are possible. In inner-city neighborhoods where common areas feature more trees and grass, the space provides more opportunities for informal conversation and social interaction. Neighbors build stronger relationships and bonds with one another simply because of the plant-filled environment and vegetation.
Beyond these benefits are the physical and emotional advantages that people have with plants. Growth, development and change become visible and are experienced through immediate physical contact while practicing in a garden. New experiences can be initiated. Verbal and more still, non-verbal communication play an important role.
Horticultural Therapy(which empowers disabled people to enjoy and experience contact in a meaningful way) is a process using horticultural activities to advance body, mind and soul and improve well-being. It is an effective method for all ages independent of their physical skills and social heritage.
Investigating and documenting these responses is at the heart of what people-plant interaction is about in order to understand and communicate the importance of plants in society.
So these were the benefits and here comes the tricky question. How different are we? Surprisingly, in findings that some might find reminiscent of science fiction, scientists have shown for the first time that humans and plants share a common pathogen recognition pathways as part of their innate immune systems.
Although there is an obvious significant genetic crossover between plants and mammals, very little is known about this common human-plant regulatory pathway. Scientists speculate that certain protein regulatory structures might exist in both plants and humans simply because they do the same thing in much the same way.
Therefore, we too depend on nature in countless ways. Without plants we’d have no oxygen to breath. Without growing, we’d have no food to eat. Everything we make and use comes from nature. Plants are nature, we are nature.
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