Welcome to My World – Amazing Plant Facts
Hello World! If you like to garden or have an interest in plants, then you should read this as it is so interesting, and a bit alarming as well…
Amazing Plant Facts You Didn’t Know
1. THE EARTH HAS MORE THAN 80,000 SPECIES OF EDIBLE PLANTS.
If you’re ever in the mood to try something new, the good news is that there
is certainly food you haven’t tasted yet growing somewhere in the world. You’ll probably have some trouble finding it, however, because…
2. 90% OF THE FOODS WE EAT COME FROM JUST 30 PLANTS.
Out of tens of thousands of plants we could eat, mankind chooses to
consume only about 30 of them. It’s crazy to contemplate how limited our diets are compared to all of the different foods we could be eating. If you think the selection of which plants we eat has anything to do with their nutritional benefits, however, you’d be wrong…
3. NUTRITION DOESN’T FACTOR INTO THE CROPS WE DO MASS PRODUCE.
The world’s largest farmers have pursued certain crops because they can
grow a lot of them more quickly, and inexpensively to turn a better profit. As a result, most of our healthiest plants stay off of our dinner plates because they aren’t available at our grocery stores. Still, sustenance isn’t the only thing we rely on plants for…
4. 70,000 PLANT SPECIES ARE UTILIZED FOR MEDICINE.
As it turns out, humans are more diversified in the plants we use for
medicine. Although a large portion of that figure applies to traditional medicine, modern medicine is not exempt from plant help. Half of the drugs prescribed in the U.S. have plant origins, many coming out of the rainforest, yet…
5. ONLY 1% OF RAINFOREST PLANTS HAVE BEEN STUDIED FOR MEDICINAL POTENTIAL
Given how valuable plants can be medicinally, the rainforest houses a host
of possible cures for our ailments new and old. This untapped resource could still hold the key to medical breakthroughs. Of course, a lot of this potential could be lost considering…
6. 80% OF THE EARTH’S ORIGINAL FORESTS HAVE BEEN CLEARED OR DESTROYED.
The same forests that dominated our land 8,000 years ago are all but gone.
Approximately four fifths of our forests are gone thanks to human intervention — just think of how many plant species may have been lost in the process. If you thought protections were in place, actually…
7. JUST 10% OF THE WORLD’S PLANT-RICH AREAS ARE PROTECTED.
Of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, only 10% are officially
“protected” to ensure the survival of a multitude of species — plant and animal alike. Worse still, many of the supposedly protected areas are done so nominally only, leaving plants threatened by external factors they should be safeguarded from. This is especially problematic because…
8. MORE THAN HALF OF PLANT SPECIES ARE NATIVE TO JUST ONE COUNTRY
Chances are, a plant you find in one part of the world is not currently
growing anywhere else. As plant habitats are ruined, there’s little point in hoping that the killed plants could be found and harvested somewhere else in the future. For this reason…
9. 68% OF PLANTS ARE IN DANGER OF GOING EXTINCT
While scientists have only examined a fraction of the existing known plant
species, of those that have been studied, 68% face extinction in our not too distant future. Since plants can’t just up and move as their habitat is being destroyed, they are even more vulnerable than endangered animals. It’s happening quickly, too, since…
10. PLANT SPECIES ARE GOING EXTINCT — ABOUT 5,000X FASTER THAN THEY SHOULD.
Some will argue that species would go extinct even without human
interference. While that’s certainly true, it’s the rate that plants are dying off that raises alarm. Thanks to climate change, deforestation and other human-influence factors, experts believe that species are going extinct somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times faster than they would naturally.
This is such good and important information for us because we really have no idea what edible plants will go extinct in the future; and much of it is because of us. Yes, humans have an awful lot to do with the rapidity with which some of our plants are going extinct. Do you do your part to make our world a better place?
Leave me a message below and share what you do to make our planet a healthier place to live…
Have a great healthy day!