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The Lost Language of Plants: The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicines for Life on Earth

By Stephen Harrod Buhner

Summarized with permission of Chelsea Green.
All rights reserved.

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The Loss of Biophilia and Biognosis

Biophilia: the love or fondness for all forms of life Biognosis: deep knowledge of nature Both words were introduced by Edward Wilson to explain these feelings for nature that are encoded in our genetic background. The Gaia Hypothesis, generated by the research of Lynn Margulis, offers a radically different view of the world.
  • All life-forms have evolved from four types of bacteria, not from species evolution as put forth by Darwin.
  • Different combinations of these bacteria created different types of cells and different life-forms, some more complex than others.
  • A new taxonomy based on the bacteria findings consists of the main groups of fungi, plants, animals, protoctists, and bacteria.

As humans, our bonding with life-forms begins with our parents and siblings, with grandparents and peers. Our bonding with Earth also starts young, with feeling the sun on our skin, crawling on the grass, playing in the dirt and other childhood experiences. We learn to listen to the wind, smell the flowers, and watch the birds fly. As we learn to love other life-forms, we also open to learn from them. Or at least, we should. Many modern cultures have separated themselves from this knowledge and thus put our future on this planet in jeopardy. The causes of this separation are:
  • Mechanistic view of the world: This reduces the complexity and wonder of nature to rational processes.
  • Loss of wild places for children to play: Contrast a suburban yard with a wild forest. What would children learn about nature in each place?
  • Public school: Education is generally limited to the rational view of nature and doesn't teach the interconnections and feelings that are part of our heritage.
  • Television: Imagination and storytelling are also part of our heritage but TV programs interrupt the stories with commercials and include the shallowest of values. "Television is to dreaming what junk food is to real food."

A research study done in the Sonoran desert on the Mexico/United States border highlights this problem. Children from Yaqui, O'odham, Anglo and Hispanic families were asked about the desert plants and animals that live around them.

  • Most of the children had very little direct knowledge of the desert since they rarely spend time exploring it.
  • What they did know was learned in school from books, not from their parents or grandparents.

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