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The Secret Life of Plants?

Smacholdt's picture
Submitted by Smacholdt on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 7:53am

This clip is from the 1979 documentary, The Secret Life of Plants, directed by Walton Green. I don’t know how I feel about this particular clip (his ideas get more crazy towards the end), but if there is any validity to it, it’s fascinating .

I’m having a hard time getting out of my brain. Call me self-centered, but I have always found that the best way for me to understand something is to apply it to my own experiences. It’s not that I’m not noticing things at my site today- I am. I’ve observed how the colors of the growth around me look duller in the rain. And how browns and oranges are starting to intermingle with greens. I notice the flock of birds that I’ve startled while walking to my spot. But today my mind keeps coming back to one idea.

We talked last class about the possibility that trees are sentient beings. And why not? What if plants can feel things? Can trees communicate? In the most basic chemical way, yes, many can. A forest of Aspen trees is completely connected by hundreds of miles of underground runners. Certain kinds of mushrooms are also one organism, connected underground. Do plants feel emotions like people do? Can they empathize? Do they desire things? I wonder if scientists will ever figure this out. This topic is captivating to me and I would love to learn more about it. 

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Srucara's picture

Thank you so much for sharing this!

Submitted by Srucara on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 12:00am.

I actually love this clip - and although this may sound strange but I am one of those people who agree with that notion as I do somehow sort of sense that plants are sentient in some sense and can respond to stimuli (indicating that they either have some sort of sentient awareness or other sense), and I know so through direct personal experience - maybe I will share it soon in class sometime = )

Nan's picture

That clip is wonderful and it

Submitted by Nan on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 3:20pm.

That clip is wonderful and it is important, I think, that people are willing to entertain extreme experimental thoughts and forays into the unknown.  It is sometimes with our intuitive feelers that we become aware of stuff.  This may also help me feel okay about posting a poem that extends itself toward the possibility of a plant's point of view.  Thanks, Sarah!

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