Rethinking the secret life of plants

With the long-awaited greenery of the Nordic summer finally upon us, it was the perfect time to consider the secret life of plants. They’re not what we think they are: the science is changing and the potential for plants to think, communicate, and engage in chemicals-weapons combat gave us plenty to ponder, while we, um, ate them (we blame the vegetarian Helsinki eatery that provides us with such delicious dinner fare, Green Hippo 🤷‍♂️).

First we studied a passage from the acclaimed new bestselling book The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by environmental writer Zoë Schlanger, then workshopped an article draft by one of our participants about plant self-defense systems, titled “Survival of the Meanest”.

To get a sense of some of the issues that came up in our discussion, check out these reviews of The Light Eaters:

• "A New Book About Plant Intelligence Highlights the Messiness of Scientific Change", The New Yorker
• "How Plants Experience the World", Undark

Image: Close-up from the cover of the book The Light Eaters.