2/24/12 (Friday)
I finished reading the Introduction of “The Botany of Desire” – Human Bumblebee. Here are the two main points in this chapter.
1. Just like the co-evolutionary relationship between bumble bee and flowering plants, human also has a co-evolutionary relationship with their so-called domestic plants. In this relationship, two partners try to advance their own interests, and in the meantime trade favors with each other. For example, in bee-plant relationships, flowering plants provide food to bees, while bees disseminate pollen for plants; in human-plant relationship, domestic plants feed us, clothe us, and satisfy our needs, while we help propagate them and disperse their seeds. Because of our human-centered view of the world, we tend to think that human is in control, and human is a subject and plants are the objects we act on in this relationship. But in reality, both human and plants play equally important roles. So this book, the author will view the human-plant relationship from a plant’s point view – how do plants “trick” us to do things for them and to spread their genes for tens of thousands of years.
2. We are accustomed to separate ourselves from the nature, and always have a love and late relationships with it. In the past, we had many wars with the nature, and have tried to tame it, conquerit, and control it. We have also tried to live in harmony with the nature once for a while. Sometimes we even think the nature takes its revenge on us. In this book, the author will try to put us back to the nature, so we are an integral part of nature, just like animals, plants, and everything else.
