THE PLANT COMMUNITY

In bygone times, at the origins of the manifestation of the terrestrial biosphere, the whole of the surface of this world was completely covered with flourishing forests, that continued uninterrupted absolutely everywhere, stopping only where they reached the shores of the primordial seas.
Plants were the first forms of life to appear and they faced each other in the Earth’s atmosphere, to be followed by later forms of life, which accompanied them in their shared sidereal transit, in free fall in the darkness of space.
Today the plant community represents the most ancient form of life on the planet. Plants possess their own special, variegated form of intelligence, as shown by a number of studies on the subject. They remain, however, mysterious, fascinating beings, because of their apparent communicative inaccessibility.
This observation leads to the assessment that, as well as safeguarding the lives of non-human animals, an issue which is now being taking into consideration thanks to growing sensitivity in the lay society, a call should be made for greater attention also to be given to these other life forms, which are also generated by Mother Earth.
What can be done? Respect has to be shown for the existing plant community, with the abolition of cut flowers, abolition of deforestation, encouragement of the establishment of tree sanctuaries on the planet. Still more can be done to safeguard these creatures, which are also an inevitable part of the planet’s biosphere.
Unfortunately the human animals have no choice but to live with the problem of their essential nourishment by turning to vegetable resources, to avoid causing suffering to animals. From this point of view it is difficult to escape from the moral choices. In the expectation of an evolved form of “simil food” from molecular sources, the only idea left is to do as little damage as possible to plants, genuine life forms that we live with. Besides, plants are accustomed to living with predator mammals and they have adapted, to release their foliage and their fruits without suffering excessive harm. Ancient traditions and modern discoveries remind us to respect their roots, which are seen as the seat of the major processes of awareness.
All things considered, plants, apart from major, ruthless deforestation, are left alone where they are, without being involved in painful, continuous planned violence. In everyday life, though, the so-called “productive” animals are seen as nothing more than “processing material”, guinea pigs to be used for cruel vivisection experiments, sources of food and other kinds of exploitation at every opportunity and every moment.
Therefore the problem posed by the animal question in the short term, cannot be postponed and has to be tackled as an absolute priority, since it appears with greater and unmistakable urgency.
The suffering of animals in circuses and slaughterhouses can no longer be ignored and in immediate terms this problem can be the starting point for abandoning the currently held commonplace, which is barbaric and patriarchal, and moving towards sensitisation of the general public to the value of life and rediscover the harmony that has gone missing from this world. This would be the first step, which is urgent and can no longer be postponed and which would inevitably lead to self-examination also on the condition of other life forms comprising a brotherhood with us on the planet, in other words the plant community.
Nowadays, facing the issue of animal rights and anti-speciesism, apart from the undeniable ethical point of view, can also provide a ground-breaking issue to draw public attention to the needs and rights of other life that exists alongside the human animals, which may lead to reaching a future global objective of harmony on the whole planet.
That is without forgetting, though, the human animals, who are unwittingly also subject to the slavery of the so-called breed of the “sons of Cain”, a phrase that has been coined to refer to that part of humanity which shows no scruples in using defenceless people pitilessly for their productive and sexual purposes.


From the book "All children of Mother Earth" by Rosalba Nattero and Giancarlo Barbadoro – Edizioni Triskel