Come home

Leaves make sugar. Plants are the only things in the universe that can make sugar out of nonliving inorganic matter. All the sugar that you have ever eaten was first made within a leaf. Without a constant supply of glucose to your brain, you will die...It’s inescapable: at this very moment, within the synapses of your brain, leaves are fueling thoughts of leaves.
~Hope Jahren

I just ran across an article about how there aren't enough people with nature literacy. People are often divorced from their environment...we need more botanists and a more nature literate society in general. Today's poem is "Illumination" by R.T. Smith, which I think complements the article.

Botanists are disappearing – just when the world needs them most by Annika Geijer-Simpson:

Students are not introduced to the diversity of plant forms and functions at UK universities and are certainly not engaged with how fascinating and dynamic the floral world is. The result is a growing skills gap, with a looming shortage of professionals capable of effectively managing environmental projects. Well-meaning but careless management is not just ineffective, it can add to environmental degradation.

For example, planting thirsty species of tree in the name of capturing carbon from the air can deprive precious bog plants of much needed water. Recklessly cutting and strimming grasslands can wipe out populations of rare orchids.

Harnessed properly, there is no doubt that plants and the services they provide can help solve looming climate and ecological crises.

Read the rest here

Wisteria by Born1945

ILLUMINATION
by R. T. Smith

As if some monk bored
in the cold scriptorium
had let his quill

wander from the morning
Gospel, two tendrils
of wisteria...

read the rest here

Unknown miniaturist from Liège-Maastricht area, ca. 1300-1325

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Leap of Dave has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Dave!

Linda's comment made me realize that there are two things I should have included:
1) A definition of illuminated manuscript ("illumination"): An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations.
2) The botanist shortage is true in the U.S. too: (from 2018) The Wall Street Journal recently published an article titled, “Rhododendron? Hydrangea? America Doesn’t Know Anymore,” in which journalist Douglas Belkin documents how the U.S. is struggling to educate its biologists in plant identification. The National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management can’t find enough scientists to deal with invasive plants, wildfire reforestation, and basic land-management issues.