Are you Blind to Trees? | Tree Blindness

Who could be blind to Trees?

Have we become so ignorant towards the nature around us that has coined a term called tress blindness, which typically means our tendency to overlook plants.

As I am writing this blog, sitting on my room's window sill surrounded by bougainvillea flowers and a money plant creeping inside my room, a hummingbird chirping on a hibiscus stem, I wonder that such a thing as "plant blindness" could possibly exist. Happy to say that my small abode is a big home to a range of birds, plants, and trees jostling with one another in different textures and colors. They spring up from cracks in the walls and pavement. They create a dynamic and vibrant landscape.

Who could be blind to this? But maybe because I love flora and fauna. I have inculcated this way of seeing plants in a different way. I am infamous amongst my friends for the pictures I take to have flower or tree branches or a complete tree.

I observe people around who see trees on earth as a background to their life. They have ignored their essentiality. The term' tree blindness' or 'plant blindness' was coined by two botanist‐educators from the United States in 1999. Yes, it has been some 20 long years that our friends, colleagues, family neighbor, etc., are just 'blind' to the trees. They have failed to connect with their very existence - nature!

There is no sign, no placard to tell you that you are looking at something really special. How can you not see a tree when you drive to your workplaces? Hundreds, thousands of people walk their ways. I don't want to single out anyone. But I do find it very hard to understand why they aren't celebrating something that gives them life.

What is tree blindness?

Tree blindness is a disease now. Those who suffer from tree blindness cannot see trees in their environment. Trees are totally invisible to them. We are already suffering its repercussion. We walk into trees, and we drive into trees. If a tree is cut outside our home, we would not even notice it missing! It is very rare in rural areas.

People in rural areas know the trees in their surroundings, their names, and their uses. Children in urban areas know brands of mobiles, cars, and clothing but not trees.

The main reason for tree blindness in big cities is the distractions around mobile phones, TV, malls, and celebrities in magazines endorsing new products instead of encouraging children to understand their environment better. It's more important for a child to know the benefits of peepal tree than to learn about the best mobile phone launched last week.

How can you learn to reconnect with nature?

Now I try to cure people suffering from tree blindness. I climb trees with them. We sit comfortably and try to experience the touch that trees offer.

After just less than a few sessions, people start looking at trees with a changed perspective. It's just like opening Pandora's box to learn about trees around us that keep us alive and sustain wildlife with food and shelter.

Let us save our kids from disconnecting the natural environment. Let us help them spend more time outdoors and enjoy nature.

Children exposed to the outdoors also have stronger immunity, and their health is better in the long run. In contrast, children who are not exposed to the elements have weaker immunity, fall sick easily, and are often under some medication.

Nature is the best medicine.

This avoidance of plants could be because plants are stationary, grow close together, are often similarly colored, and blend visually, making it difficult for people to notice them beyond a uniform block of green.

Plants behave 'human-like characteristics. They welcome all forms of 'communication,' kinship, and so on. Just step out and catch them, and you will be able to relate to them. But the same characteristics of plants inspire wonder precisely because they are so 'un-human-like' — they have a different language of communication than we have.

Plant blindness is limiting plant conservation, but we can change that by helping people to identify and empathize with plants.

Just imagine a world without plants—you can't. We will regret a world without cows, tigers, or elephants, but a world without plants is unimaginable.

Hug a tree they have fewer issues than people.

Greet to the trees. Interact with them. Hug them to receive positive energies. Hugging a tree is a sense of promise to love and care for them. In human culture, we hug or shake hands to greet someone or familiarize ourselves with a stranger.

Who can talk to a tree doesn't need to go to a psychiatrist.