“The most diverse aspects of our existence depend on the Plant Kingdom. The air we breathe, the food that nurtures us, the medications that heal us, everything is associated with plants.”
These words of the biologist and collaborator of the São Carlos Light-Nucleus, Yago Barros, are an important message, especially today, April 17, when throughout Brazil, National Botany Day is being celebrated, the science that studies the plants in its various levels and shapes. On this day, an attempt is made to make the Brazilian people aware of the importance of the preservation of the Plant Kingdom.
Plants have a fundamental role in maintaining life on Earth. Besides making our planet more beautiful and pleasant, they also guarantee scientific development, are sources of food, provide fibers for clothing, wood for furniture, shelter, fuel, paper for books, spices for cooking, and they also absorb carbon dioxide, which causes the greenhouse effect, through photosynthesis.
Photos kindly granted by @planet_sacrednature
“We Brazilians have the privilege of living in the most biodiverse country in the world,” emphasizes Yago Barros. And he gives the example: “the Amazon rainforest, a plant domain that is being severely devastated, is responsible for a significant portion of the rain that falls in the Southeast. The trees in the Amazon Basin exude the equivalent of the incredible amount of 20 trillion liters of water per day, and that impressive flow reaches the South and the Southeast of Brazil. The Southeast, without the Amazon, would be a desert. And the Cerrado is also largely responsible for the water that supports our existence. Recognized as the ‘cradle of the waters,’ this domain feeds the groundwaters that encompass the headwaters of the principle rivers of the country.”
The biologist emphasizes that the indigenous peoples understand the importance of the plants much better than other cultures. “The natives always saw in plants a manifestation of the most supreme divinity. The native peoples depend on them. Knowing this, and because of this, they take care of the green that pulsates around them so that it never perishes.”
Photos taken out of the book Sacred Kingdoms of Nature – Irdin Editora
José Trigueirinho Netto, in the talk Planet Earth, a being in Redemption – Plant Kingdom, defined this Kingdom as an example of gifting, beauty, harmony, and balance. “When we destroy the forests, we are demolishing the natural harmony of the planet (…). We have much to learn from this Kingdom.”
