05-04-2019, 08:27 AM
I agree. I think we should have an awareness of plant life. Plant life is essential for everything! For us as well as other creatures.
It's an interesting article. I was wondering if humans are more likely to notice animals than plant life, because animals have faces. And our brains are trained to focus on faces.
I remember when I was a very little child (earliest memories) and I was fascinated by plant life. I was particularly drawn to some flowers like Pansies because they seemed to have faces! And Snap Dragons because when you gently squeeze them, they open their "mouths" (I used to put tiny pieces of food inside these poor flowers!)
My mother had planted a tiny garden in that dingy little town where I was born, and it was a great source of joy and magic for me in very early childhood. We moved when I was 7 to a more rural situation, with woods and fields, and that was even happier.
I recall as a child noticing so much in the woods, the smells, textures, appearance, and all details of the plants and trees that grew there. I wouldn't have known what to do without that place!
Other important things are the actual hands-on connections with those living things and attention to them....being outside a large percentage of the time (we would be outside in the woods in all weathers and at all opportunities)....not talking....not staring at a mobile phone....not being driven to school (though I admit in some areas nowadays it isn't always safe for a child to walk long distances to school, as it was in my day.)
Many children and adults today do not spend meaningful long periods out in natural environments on the whole.
It's an interesting article. I was wondering if humans are more likely to notice animals than plant life, because animals have faces. And our brains are trained to focus on faces.
I remember when I was a very little child (earliest memories) and I was fascinated by plant life. I was particularly drawn to some flowers like Pansies because they seemed to have faces! And Snap Dragons because when you gently squeeze them, they open their "mouths" (I used to put tiny pieces of food inside these poor flowers!)
My mother had planted a tiny garden in that dingy little town where I was born, and it was a great source of joy and magic for me in very early childhood. We moved when I was 7 to a more rural situation, with woods and fields, and that was even happier.
I recall as a child noticing so much in the woods, the smells, textures, appearance, and all details of the plants and trees that grew there. I wouldn't have known what to do without that place!
Other important things are the actual hands-on connections with those living things and attention to them....being outside a large percentage of the time (we would be outside in the woods in all weathers and at all opportunities)....not talking....not staring at a mobile phone....not being driven to school (though I admit in some areas nowadays it isn't always safe for a child to walk long distances to school, as it was in my day.)
Many children and adults today do not spend meaningful long periods out in natural environments on the whole.
