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*Due to Monica’s location in nature at her home in Australia, the internet connection gets disrupted at certain points in the conversation - while we did our best to make the audio sound better at certain points, we apologize for the quality and encourage you to continue listening as she has so many amazing things to say.
In her book Thus Spoke The Plant, a “phytobiography”– or a collection of stories written in partnership with a plant –research scientist Monica Gagliano reveals the dynamic role plants play in genuine first-hand accounts from her research into plant communication and cognition. By transcending the view of plants as the objects of scientific materialism, Gagliano encourages us to rethink plants as people–beings with subjectivity, consciousness, and volition, and hence having the capacity for their own perspectives and voices.
Monica’s research aims at expanding our perception of animals, plants and more generally Nature. In the process of learning how to do this, Monica has pioneered the brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics and extended the concept of cognition to plants, re-igniting the discourse on plant subjectivity, sentience and ethical standing.
In this interview, Monica shares about how an ethical crisis was the seed that changed the course of Monica’s career and led to her working with plants and writing her book. We talk about the collective “plant blindness” and Monica shares how resistant and scared she was to change.
We talk about Trust as one of the biggest lessons Monica has and continues to learn through this work, and Monica’s explanation of “personhood” with regards to plants, and thus the legality of the natural world. Monica shares what the “real plant revolution” is and its many implications... plus lots of talk on top issues capturing Monica’s attention: GMOs, Cannabis, and the appropriation of potent medicinal plants on a larger scale.
Stick to the end to hear Monica’s request for your support and how you can help her mission to protect and restore the ecologies of the Earth!
Show Notes
In this episode, we discuss:
How an ethical crisis was the seed that changed the course of Monica’s career and led to her working with plants and writing her book
How being let go from her job, living off of little income and entering more challenging times and emotions ushered her into a deeper journey with plants and her mission to advocate for them
Monica explains “plant blindness” and shares how resistant and scared she was to change
How Trust is one of the biggest lessons Monica has and continues to learn through this work
How Monica communicates with plants and “hears” their messages, and the evolution of her relationship to them
Monica’s explanation of “personhood” with regards to plants, and the origins of the word “person”, the concept of masks and personas, and the problems with anthropomorphizing plants
The legality of the natural world, how plants are agents that have their own interests, and the cloudy legalities around the rights of plants and nature
The wishful thinking of the name Homo sapiens and the false “othering” between humans and nature
The “real plant revolution” and its implications: an evolutionary process into a “new old” human
The importance of Imagination, and the collective point of tension we are experiencing before the bow releases the arrow
The top issues that are capturing Monica’s attention: GMOs, Cannabis, and the decriminalization + appropriation of potent medicinal plants on a larger scale
Monica’s view on GMOs, how she doesn’t believe it’s founded in science and shouldn’t be funded
How we need to change our collective Mind before we are able to change our world
What Monica has received from the plants on how to “change our Mind”, and how it involves the deconstruction of the Self
Monica’s advice for folx midwifing ourselves into a new story and new Mind
Which plant is feeding her wild right now and the beautiful vision of a new grassroots project she received
The importance of sound and what is being discovered thru soundscape ecology and plant bioacoustics
How you can support Monica and her team in this new project to support the planet
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Connect With Monica Gagliano
Resources + Links Mentioned
Monica Gagliano in the New York Times: Do Plants Have Something To Say?
Wildly Rooted Resources
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