[PCA] ARTICLE: We do not want to “cure plant blindness” we want to grow plant love

[afrates at addsuminc.com]

I think this is just a bit over the top.  There's nothing wrong with the term "plant blindness."  It is what it is.  I seriously doubt blind people are offended by the term - they would love to be "cured" and be able to see plants.  It isn't an exclusionary term.  Being blind to something means that typically that you DO want to be cured by that affliction!   To me it is motivating.   Words have more than one meaning.

More positive messages would be great too, and we all use those as well, but I'm not going to stop calling it what it is, and we shouldn't be so afraid to use language to the point that we go off the deep end.

If only we had a Randy Newman song about plant blindness . . . 


Tony Frates




----- Original Message -----
From: "Prescott, Leah" <lprescott at blm.gov>
To: listserv <native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org>
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2019 11:35:26 -0400
Subject: [PCA] ARTICLE: We do not want to “cure plant blindness” we want to grow plant love

> From: *Plants, People, Planet* New Phytologist Trust
> By: Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie, Sara Kuebbing, Rebecca S. Barak, Molly
> Bletz, Joan Dudney, Bonnie M. McGill, Mallika A. Nocco, Talia Young,
> Rebecca K. Tonietto
> July 18, 2019
> 
> "We have a duty to conserve plants for the health of current and future
> generations. To do that, we, as a community of scientists, need to move
> plants from the background and into the foreground of people's hearts and
> minds. Effective movements need a clear, unifying rallying cry. We have
> made a decision not to use “curing plant blindness” as ours. Instead, we
> would like to encourage an honest and inclusive discussion about the
> disenfranchising and exclusionary term 'plant blindness.'"
> 
> Read more: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.10062
> -- 
> Leah Prescott
> Seeds of Success
> National Collection Curator (Contractor)
> 202-912-7232
> 
> Seeds of Success
> <https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/native-plant-and-seed-material-development/collection>
> National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration
> <https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy>
> Plant Conservation Alliance <http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/>
> 
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