EQUALITY and ENVIRONMENT
Why House Plants should be given Full Constitutional Rights
Yup, I have some pretty extreme views. But hear me out first.
Ignorance Is Murder
Let me start with a rant: I have little respect for the people that buy a plant, place it in a dark corner of their living room, water it maybe once or twice in a period of two months (or overwater it), then start wondering why it’s not doing well, then throw it out in the garbage before it is even dead. In fact, they throw it out as soon as the flowers fade.
I don’t like these people. But I understand why they are the way they are. Let me tell you a story first about us Humans and how we relate to other life forms on this planet:
We like seals because they look cute and smiley, and they make awesome Disney cartoons. But then we kill them for their blubber, overfish their food supply and let them starve themselves to extinction. At least we have the stuffed animal version, which is made from nylon microfibre that eventually ends up in the stomach of birds and sea creatures. Aw…that seal stuffed animal is so cute and cuddly (insert love emoji)
We love rainforests because they look “cool”. Our children’s books are filled with stories about Tarzan and Mowgli and the jungle, and we love sitting in front of the TV with a take out meal to watch a good old David Attenborough documentary. A meal that most probably has palm oil in it, directly linked to the daily burning down of rainforest (record acreage burned down this month in Brazil, the size of Greater London in just a month).
Is Life that Cheap?
My point is: by selling plants in supermarkets at such low prices, we are teaching humans that plant life is cheap, consumable, and that killing it is ok because there is an inexhaustible supply. Well newsflash: plant life is not cheap, it is where the oxygen you breathe comes from. What price would you put on that? It is also not consumable, it is a life form and 70% of plants are in danger of extinction in the next few decades. And it certainly is not inexhaustible, unless you are talking about the factory-produced orchid you bought.
(I hope so far you have gathered that the point I’m trying to make is not about the Kentia Palm or the Phaleonopsis orchid you are killing in your apartment. It is about developing an environmental conscience that we all need right now in order to save the planet)
We need to change our values, fast. By starting with houseplants, we can begin to appreciate the bigger plants out there.
If we want to tackle deforestation, climate change and the 6th Mass Extinction currently happening, then we need to change the values we are encouraging in people. If we learned to treat houseplants with more respect, as opposed to treating them like supermarket consumables, we may develop a better appreciation for other, bigger plants out there in the Amazon we are killing every day. We may just begin to realise that plants are living things made of DNA just like us. They are not a christmas decoration or a furniture piece, they are living things like ourselves.
It’s not just light and water and fertilizer. Each plant you have in your house came from a specific ecosystem, with its own requirements. Plants need space, clean air, the right temperature. Google your plant. Learn about its wild environment and its nutritional needs. Where does it naturally live? How much light does it need? Try to replicate some of that environment in your home. You’ll be surprised with the result.
Houseplants can teach us Awareness, Empathy, Compassion and Love
Yes, we do need to plant forests all over the Earth. But the change must start within us first, by appreciating these amazing life forms that provide our oxygen supply. Instead, we grow them in the thousands and sell them in supermarkets for $2 a piece. We buy them, never bother to care for them, and throw them out as soon as the flowers wilt.
If there is any chance that we save this planet, it should start with giving everyone the challenge of saving their houseplant first. Only then will people realise just how fragile life is.
I am always impressed by people who have bought a supermarket plant and ended up keeping it for 20 years, nurturing it into a full grown tree. This is always a sign of a person with empathy, gratitude, patience, commitment. It’s not wrong therefore when people say that good gardeners make good relationship partners.
I live in a tiny studio flat in London. Packed with orchids, citrus trees, palms that I have kept for years, that reward me with flowers and fruit. But it takes commitment. The same commitment that we need to afford Earth if we are to save it from destruction.
If there is any chance that we save this planet, it should start with giving everyone the challenge of saving their houseplant first. Only then will people realise just how fragile life is. Every organism needs a specific habitat to survive, to thrive and reproduce. Life is a lot more fragile than we think.
Killing a houseplant means disrespecting the whole of nature. It means only appreciating its flowers and fruit as opposed to the rest of the plant that is needed to make the flowers and fruit. it is like killing your parents once their hair turns grey, their skin wrinkles, and they’ve given all they could to help you pay your student loan off. It is like killing a horse just because it can’t run.
We need House Plant Social Services, showing up in peoples’ houses and checking on adopted plants. Those who do well will be rewarded. Those who don’t will be given another chance, or forbidden to own a plant, in order to demonstrate that this is a privilege that you earn, just like adopting a child. You might find my suggestion extreme, but think about the powerful effect it will have on educating people, on reducing anxiety and depression, on reconnecting us with nature.
If we start appreciating life on this planet, maybe there is a chance less of it will go extinct.
You can follow me on Twitter @99blackbaloons
