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  • From: <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Plant life ethics --for real
  • Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:37:28 -0500

Bob,

I do entirely agree with Ray, that plants have spirits, can experience satisfaction, and that they are happy in fulfilling their purpose.

Although I am trained as a botanist I am an anomaly. Years ago I read Tompkin's "Secret Life of Plants" and was intrigued by the idea of plants as sentient beings, but I could not say it was so then because I was still looking through the eyes of science from my time at an agricultural college.

But after years of teaching plant identification and appreciation I left the botanical center and decided to study the uses of plants. This question came up again. During this time I met and studied with Stephen Harrod Buhner who wrote "The Lost Language of Plants: The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicines for Life on Earth" which discusses how plants communicate their healing qualities to humans and other animals. Through working with him and others, I have since come to the conclusion that plants are sentient, so perhaps they should deserve such consideration. BTW--My former colleaues think I'm nutty.

--Sage
"Way Out" in Texas



On Thu, 9 Oct 2008 17:41:26 -0700 (PDT)
bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com> wrote:
Maybe someone with a closer understanding of plants, like Sage or someone else, can tell me if this article makes these ethics professors sound nutty, or if I'm just not as educated on the new ethos as should be desired ....bobford
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OCTOBER 10, 2008
Switzerland's Green Power Revolution: Ethicists Ponder Plants' Rights
Who Is to Say Flora Don't Have Feelings? Figuring Out What Wheat Would Want

By GAUTAM NAIKArticle

»ZURICH -- For years, Swiss scientists have blithely created genetically modified rice, corn and apples. But did they ever stop to consider just how humiliating such experiments may be to plants?

That's a question they must now ask. Last spring, this small Alpine nation began mandating that geneticists conduct their research without trampling on a plant's dignity.

Beat Keller
"Unfortunately, we have to take it seriously," Beat Keller, a molecular biologist at the University of Zurich. "It's one more constraint on doing genetic research."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122359549477921201.html


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