Plant blindness can be cured
Modern humans suffer from visual processing fatigue of static visual objects. Take plants for example. In 2018, artists Anna Kell and Jonathan Frey created a series of posters for a phenomenon that has come to be known as “plant blindness.”
The artwork was created as part of a program for highlighting the significance of plant education and identification through a Curtis Gates Lloyd Fellowship at the Lloyd Library & Museum located in Cincinnati. The three posters created as part of the Fellowship include a pantry poster of 30 common plants found in the pantry, an eye chart poster, and a prevent plant blindness carrot logo poster. The series of posters can be downloaded for personal and educational use at lloydlibrary.org/posters-for-plant-blindness.
Plant blindness is, of course, not a phenomena experienced by the visually impaired, rather it is according to Wikipedia, “a form of cognitive bias, which in its broadest meaning, is a human tendency to ignore plants species.” It is linked to “nature deficit disorder” or simply an “inability to notice plants in one’s own environment.”
If you think this is a diatribe heading toward some humorous punch line, you may have just confirmed that you suffer from undiagnosed symptoms of static visual perception, which may lead to full-blown plant blindness. Not to worry, it can be cured (one step is to read this column on a regular basis), but without spending as much as one carrot seed, one can learn more about this phenomenon by consulting that all-knowing wise counsel, Dr. Google.
In a 2001 one paper, “Toward a Theory of Plant Blindness,” James H. Wandersee of LSU and Elisabeth E. Schussler of the Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy begin to explore the question of why people (especially in the U.S.) tend to be more interested in animals and less interested in plants, and even fail to notice plants in their environment, despite their omnipresence.
Many aspects of environmental awareness, they argue, depend upon scientific literacy of plants at the national level and a botanically literate citizenry. They initially coined the term “plant blindness” in 1998. To reverse the tendency toward an “inability to recognize the important of plants in the biosphere, and in human affairs,” one only needs to begin to look more closely at plants and appreciate the beauty of the detail. With a profusion of late-flowering wildflowers this year, this is a perfect time to reverse your own tendency toward plant blindness. A revealing and information publication on plant blindness can be found at this link.