A recent study has cautioned that the rate of plant scientists is rapidly declining and furthermore the general population has become disconnected and ignorant of plants and how they play an important role in our existence and balance of the planet eco system. Students and people in general now know less about plants than previous generations. Plants are not given the importance and credit they deserve in society and education. Plants are crucial to solving climate change, fedding ourselves, eco system balance and bio diversity yet most professions and studies exclude or neglect teaching people how plants factor into their profession or sector.
The paper (Stroud et al, 2022) recommends that plants should be treated as an integral part of every profession and trade from veterinary to engineering, medicina and even social and political science. Plants education needs to reflect their importance to our society and not be treated as a niche subject. On top of this evaluations and reports should be carried out periodically to assess the state of education and plant teaching.
If we are to tackle climate change and change human perceptions about sustianability, diets and the environment everyone should have a solid grasp of plants and especially their local eco system and native species. If we dont tackle this issue we risk letting it spiral out of control and having a scarce shortage of people understanding anything about plants and invasive species, extinction, pest problems and all manner of issues could be exacerbated due to knwoledge that will be lost. Humans are become more and more urbanised but we have to ensure this doesn’t lead to humanity becoming completly disconnected from nature.
SOURCES
Stroud, S., Fennell, M., Mitchley, J., Lydon, S., Peacock, J., and Bacon, K.L., 2022. The botanical education extinction and the fall of plant awareness. Ecology and Evolution, 12 (7).