Suburban and urban dwellers suffer at large from “plant blindness,” or the inability to notice and recognize the plant world.
Plant blindness is a form of cognitive bias describing the human tendency to ignore plant species. Most humans are more responsive to animals than plants. Fast-moving animals with eyes, like us, are capture our attention. This is probably hardwired into our DNA. We had to respond quickly to fast-moving animals for survival. Ironically, by ignoring what’s green and grows, we’re ignoring our most important lifeline. Intensive agricultural farming has removed us from the harvest, and we pick our produce not from the fields but wrapped in plastic from the grocery store aisles.
Earth-based cultures (by some termed primitive, I prefer to call them connected) are well aware that the plant world is responsible for maintaining viable conditions on Earth. Our culture seems disconnected from the very source of life. We’ve taken matters into our own hands, quite literally, transplanting the tree of life where we see fit. In an effort to beautify our public and private spaces, we’ve sculpted the land to ridiculous extents. We’ve introduced exotic and ornamental plants that have escaped cultivation and replaced indigenous growth. This is devastating to biodiversity because insects evolved to feed on local plants and often do not know how to utilize introduced plant life.
In his milestone book, “Bringing Nature Home,” Douglas W. Tallamy describes how native plants sustain wildlife in our gardens. He was quick to notice in his research how indigenous plants attracted more insects than non-natives. As a matter of fact, alien plants were often introduced because they weren’t attracting insects.
In the ’50s and ’60s, when North America’s most popular street tree, the American elm, was destroyed in large numbers by Dutch elm disease, Norway maples were selected as the street tree of choice. Norway maple quickly outcompetes native trees. On Long Island, Norway maple is now listed as an invasive and is not for sale. It is illegal to plant it in some parts of the country. Additionally, on Long Island we’re overrun by multi-floral rose, mile-a-minute, kudzu, Japanese honeysuckle, English ivy, and bitter-sweets, to name a few imports suffocating native growth.
Landscape ecologist Rusty Schmidt estimates that 95 percent of suburban growth is comprised of alien plant life (ornamental, exotic).
“Our challenge is to redesign suburbia so that it becomes a healthy, functioning ecosystem,” he says. “Every time we plant an alien plant, we are reducing the local insect population. Studies have shown that areas overrun with alien plants produce 35 times less caterpillar biomass, the most popular insect food with birds.”
Insects make up more than 80 percent of life on Earth and are under-appreciated for the vital role they serve in the web of life. The majority of insects are beneficial, serving as decomposers, pollinators and even predators for pest management (for instance, the praying mantis eats mosquitos and aphids). Plants harness the energy from the sun and play key roles in regulating climate and air quality, mainly through the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and water cycles.
We can learn to pay attention to plants and recognize their importance. If you’re interested in correcting your plant blindness, a few ways to do this are listed below:
1. Dedicate a few mindful minutes each day to a plant or a tree that you’ve never noticed before.
2. Join iNaturalist: a free mobile app for data collection and identification.
3. Join iMapinvasives: a cloud-based application for tracking and managing invasive species.
4. Enjoy re-establishing a vital connection to the plant world. We may have turned a blind eye, but plant life never forgot to feed us.
With the easy-to-use iNaturalist app, you can log an observation on your mobile device. Capture a photo with your phone, upload to the database and the online community will help you identify what you’re noticing.
With iMapinvasives scientists are encouraging you and me to join them in the identification and management of invasives in your area.
These types of citizen science based observations through online networks are of great significance now that we’re experiencing rapid changes as a consequence of climate change. You can help document the changes.
Environmental health is directly linked to public health.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.” But make sure you plant the right tree.
Dr. Hildur Palsdottir
Sol Center
Port Washington
