Discussion: How do we ensure that society appreciates the full importance of plants?
Plants are fundamental to all life on Earth. They provide us with food, fuel, fiber, industrial feedstocks, and medicines. They render our atmosphere breathable. They buffer us against extremes of weather and provide food and shelter for much of the life on our planet. However, we take plants and the benefits they confer for granted. Given their importance, should we not pay plants greater attention and give higher priority to improving our understanding of them? Awareness could be increased through the media, school education, and public understanding of science activities, but a major step-change in activity will be required to make a substantial difference.  Maybe you have some ideas.

Instructions:

Write a summary of your thoughts on the question How do we ensure that society appreciates the full importance of plants?.  It should be a minimum of 200 words (ideally between 200-300 words – about half a page) and should include your own thoughts as well as information that you have looked up on the internet or in other sources (please cite your sources)

Also respond to two post (Your responses should be constructive and are meant to be a conversation on this issue)
1) To ensure that society appreciates the full importance of plants the scientific community has to bring the issue to people. They must make the issue hit people at home because people will only react or create change when it affects them directly. People encounter or react with plants in their everyday lives without knowing that they are. Some common items or things that are made from plants that people look over consist of clothes, soaps, medicines, and food. All of these items are essential to society and also the survival of humans. Without clothes we could fall to the harsh conditions of nature. Without soaps we could develop diseases, and infections that could be life threatening. Without medicine we would lose loved ones more frequently. Without certain foods made from plants we would lose certain nutritional requirements leading to death. All of these are valid facts that exemplify the importance of plants within our lives. The real question is how can we make people care about something they overlook day in and day out? The first step is to educate people not just on the issue but in general by creating more opportunities for people to attend schools of higher education. This an essential because people who are more educated can perform higher levels of thinking allowing for them to understand the issue, we are trying to bring light to. The second step is to create community outreach programs that will present to people why plants are important. With these two steps we can bring the issue into the homes of people. This will allow ultimately for people to see the that plants are extremely important to humans and life on Earth. That they would see that there should be more attention and care for plants around the world.

2)Plants are essential to the health of our ecosystem, including the atmosphere, animals, and people within it. If plants were to suddenly disappear, the entire food chain and the cycle of life would come to a screeching halt. Our health depends on plants, not only for food, but also for medicinal purposes. According to Plantscapers.com, Many of prescription medicines come from plant extracts or synthesized plant compounds. Aspirin comes from the bark of the willow. Mint leaves have mentha that is used in throat lozenges, muscle creams, and nasal medicine. The malaria drug ingredient quinine is from the bark of the Cinchona tree. About 65% 80% of the worlds population use holistic plant-based medicine as their primary form of healthcare according to the World Health Organization. As a society, we must take steps to increase our knowledge and appreciation of plants by starting with school education. Sure, we have Earth Day where Nickelodeon shuts down their TV streaming, but we need much more than that. Much like how we are learning about life on earth in class right now, our public education system and colleges need to put in the extra effort to drive home the importance of plants and how they contribute to our everyday life and are not to be taken for granted. The older generations need education and appreciation, so one way to achieve this is by the government creating a federal holiday version of Earth Day where every working adult and all children going to public school have a day off to plant trees, enrich the soil, harvest, or what-have-you. People may have an incentive to participate by their government or workplace offering financial compensation for however many plants they nurture on Earth Day.  Though money may seem like the biggest flaw in this plan, people need to consider that one day off work is a drop in the bucket to prevent our future issues that are bound arise as our earth and health depreciates. Some may argue that recycling and the innovation of cars that run off plant-based fuels are progressive but the handful of people that use these methods are a small percentage of the people we need in order to put a dent in the goliath of a problem. If other countries are not making an effort to conserve our earth, the 372.2 million people that live in America can set an example for a united cause. We cannot afford to continue the benign neglect of our planets overall health as our technology and industrialization become relentlessly more harmful to our ozone layer, forests, and every beings livelihood.