Perspective. Plant awareness disparity: A case for renaming plant blindness (Plants People Planet)

If there is one thing we agree on, it is that plants are underappreciated, leading to consequences spanning from ecosystem collapse to poor rates of funding. This effect, and efforts to remedy it, have been discussed in terms of “plant blindness”. In this Perspective, Parsley summarizes many of these proposed remedies and their impacts, but more importantly she addresses the growing realization that “plant blindness” is an inappropriate term for this very important concern. “Plant blindness” is “a metaphor that is insensitive to, and exclusive toward, members of the disabled community” and as such it contributes to ableism. Ableism “refers to the idea that disability is somehow inherently bad, when in practice, ableism devalues disabled people.” She instead proposes the term “plant awareness disparity”, which highlights that the root of the problem is the relative lack of awareness of plants and their roles in the world, and also that this problem is resolvable through education. (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching) Plants People Planet 10.1002/ppp3.10153