When I check the news this morning, this title (from Yahoo News) has grabbed my attention: Plants Communicate to Warn Against Danger.
Snippets:
Plants chatter amongst themselves to spread information, a lot like humans and other animals, new research suggests. A unique internal network apparently allows greens to warn each other against predators and potential enemies.
Many herbal plants such as strawberry, clover, reed and ground elder naturally form a set of connections to share information with each other through channels known as runners horizontal stems that physically bond the plants like tubes or cables along the soil surface and underground. (...)
Here is how it works: If one of the network plants is attacked by caterpillars, the other members of the network are warned via an internal signal to upgrade their chemical and mechanical resistance making their leaves hard to chew on and less desirable. This system works to spread the information amongst the plants and to ward off caterpillars.
This is an early warning system, very much like in military defense, but then more effective: each member of the network can receive the external signal of impending herbivore danger and transmit it to the other members of the network, Stuefer said. The attacked leaf is lost. However, the remaining leaves are protected against predators.
The study is detailed in this month’s issue of the journal Oecologia.
-----
Mhhh... communication between living creatures. Aren't we talking about the use of a... language? :)
Also, this study reminds me of similar studies on plants. Plants do have feelings, they do feel pain, for instance.
I also remember some conversations with friends who are vegetarian, and I have asked why, wether it was for health reason or otherwise. Answer? Eating meat is cruel.
And I reminded them that their bowl of salad, if they had an idea how that lettuce had to suffer to finally land on that dish, ditto for that plant which these tomatoes come from, etc, etc... Suffering, eh?
Because a plant is silently sitting still doesn't mean that it isn't alive. It *IS* a living creature. Just like animals.
Besides, depending from which part of the world they come, there maybe tons of pesticide, many of these pesticide banned here for health reason are still widely use elsewhere in the world.
Of course, I didn't mean that we should all eat hamburgers, but I was labeled at the big bad guy for not being politically correct. :)
My point is this: We're omnivorous, and to be healthy, you have to eat... a bit of *everything*. Otherwise you have a severely unbalanced diet... and all sorts of problems will (and do) creep up.
My other point is... that we are part of the food chain and we are no longer reminded of that.
With supermarkets filled to the brim of all sorts of edible goodies, all available to your heart content in exchange of... money, we have forgotten this link with the food chain. In order for us to stay alive... another living creature has to give away. That's the equation, as brunt as that.
I'm a fisherman. (OK, a "summer fisherman". :)) However, I fish only for my needs and those who are with me. Period. The fish in the boat in the morning, will be our dinner tonight.
So, you get very humble and you get VERY aware of your role in the nature food chain when you're back home... and you have to clean fish.
What is cruel... we are now over 7 *billions*. There is no way this little planet will be able to continue to support us very long. Our collective load onto all other living creatures is insane. Even to ourselves, we are lucky to live in this part of the world that we can eat all we want, to the point that obesity is a widespread problem. Elsewhere, a lot of humans are... hungry.
I'm at an age that the URGE to have children is there... it's hard-coded in the genes, it is true to all humans, men and women. To be parents and to pass the baton to the next generation.
However, there are times I wonder... maybe the ultimate sacrifice for our own survival, as well as helping other living creatures to live... is *NOT* to have kids.
Mhhh....
-E
Snippets:
Plants chatter amongst themselves to spread information, a lot like humans and other animals, new research suggests. A unique internal network apparently allows greens to warn each other against predators and potential enemies.
Many herbal plants such as strawberry, clover, reed and ground elder naturally form a set of connections to share information with each other through channels known as runners horizontal stems that physically bond the plants like tubes or cables along the soil surface and underground. (...)
Here is how it works: If one of the network plants is attacked by caterpillars, the other members of the network are warned via an internal signal to upgrade their chemical and mechanical resistance making their leaves hard to chew on and less desirable. This system works to spread the information amongst the plants and to ward off caterpillars.
This is an early warning system, very much like in military defense, but then more effective: each member of the network can receive the external signal of impending herbivore danger and transmit it to the other members of the network, Stuefer said. The attacked leaf is lost. However, the remaining leaves are protected against predators.
The study is detailed in this month’s issue of the journal Oecologia.
Mhhh... communication between living creatures. Aren't we talking about the use of a... language? :)
Also, this study reminds me of similar studies on plants. Plants do have feelings, they do feel pain, for instance.
I also remember some conversations with friends who are vegetarian, and I have asked why, wether it was for health reason or otherwise. Answer? Eating meat is cruel.
And I reminded them that their bowl of salad, if they had an idea how that lettuce had to suffer to finally land on that dish, ditto for that plant which these tomatoes come from, etc, etc... Suffering, eh?
Because a plant is silently sitting still doesn't mean that it isn't alive. It *IS* a living creature. Just like animals.
Besides, depending from which part of the world they come, there maybe tons of pesticide, many of these pesticide banned here for health reason are still widely use elsewhere in the world.
Of course, I didn't mean that we should all eat hamburgers, but I was labeled at the big bad guy for not being politically correct. :)
My point is this: We're omnivorous, and to be healthy, you have to eat... a bit of *everything*. Otherwise you have a severely unbalanced diet... and all sorts of problems will (and do) creep up.
My other point is... that we are part of the food chain and we are no longer reminded of that.
With supermarkets filled to the brim of all sorts of edible goodies, all available to your heart content in exchange of... money, we have forgotten this link with the food chain. In order for us to stay alive... another living creature has to give away. That's the equation, as brunt as that.
I'm a fisherman. (OK, a "summer fisherman". :)) However, I fish only for my needs and those who are with me. Period. The fish in the boat in the morning, will be our dinner tonight.
So, you get very humble and you get VERY aware of your role in the nature food chain when you're back home... and you have to clean fish.
What is cruel... we are now over 7 *billions*. There is no way this little planet will be able to continue to support us very long. Our collective load onto all other living creatures is insane. Even to ourselves, we are lucky to live in this part of the world that we can eat all we want, to the point that obesity is a widespread problem. Elsewhere, a lot of humans are... hungry.
I'm at an age that the URGE to have children is there... it's hard-coded in the genes, it is true to all humans, men and women. To be parents and to pass the baton to the next generation.
However, there are times I wonder... maybe the ultimate sacrifice for our own survival, as well as helping other living creatures to live... is *NOT* to have kids.
Mhhh....
-E
Posts
2 comments:
I'll take the salad garnished (quite liberally) with strips of very rare steak (au poivre, pan blakened, or teriyaki-picky, picky)and puh-lease leave the fat ON the meat as I live in a cold climate and NEEEEEED it.
As far as kids are concerned. You are human. To desire children is human; to rationalize is also human, sooooo, because the joys of children, the gift of children, the gifts they bestow, outweigh my propensity to rationalize...ha...
We are, each of us, unique even as we are alike we are unique and each of us has within a quality uniquely useful to the next generation. To have or not to have children...it's a crap shoot. We live once on earth; if you desire a child or children, it IS your birthright...guilt-free.
Lorri
Greetings, L!
Food: Well, I'm seasonal. :) I'm mostly vegetarian in the summer (the notable exception is seafood!), and I'll eat meat and lots of it in winter time. And yes, with the fat on the meat. :)
Where I live isn't much warmer, as you know! It's frigid cold and humid! I need energy and I need... extra padding! Cough cough. :)
Kids... Oh, I'm thorn on this subject!
I had in mind words from our common friend Satori on the subject. We're just too many humans...
And you have words that move me. The gift of children.
Oh... such a gift! That speaks loudly to me.
It's not a matter of guilt.. but two compelling and opposite views.
Soupir!
And indeed we live once on earth...
Many thanks for your inspiring words, L !
Cheers,
-Jacques
Post a Comment