In Convivium #7
With Paul Moss, Executive Director of The Plant Initiative
For In Convivium #7 I sat down with Paul Moss, a genuinely lovely human being. Aside from being the Executive Director of The (fabulous) Plant Initiative, a hub for ‘vegetal tribe’, he’s currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Minnesota, more on which later.
Paul’s also one of a number of recent acquaintances and friends who’ve vegetal surnames. In his case it was an anglicisation of a Romanian family name yet it resonates with his chosen path. “It does kind of steer you toward working with plants, I think, when your actual name is the name of a plant. I think it kind of gives you this subconscious reinforcement, and I’ve seen other examples of people that have plant-related last names and are working in the area of plants.”
The Plant Initiative (PI) is a US-based non-profit, and a space “where people who [are] interested in different, more respectful ways of working with and being with plants [can] find a central point of information, of connecting with each other, and of educational resources.” It was initiated near the end of 2020 and really took off after the online conference it hosted the following Summer - Toward a New Way of Being with Plants. The video recordings from this fantastic event are still freely available here. As you will see, the PI very much reflects the spirit of Plantae convivae.
It now regularly hosts singular speaker webinars (free/by donation) as well as larger events, such as the extraordinary Voices of Plants for a Better World, and produces a free and very rich monthly newsletter which I would commend to all, featuring globally collated plant-related events, articles, research, opportunities and action points.
Another aspect of the PI I really appreciate is that it reflects diversity and polycultural realities, especially in relation to the people it attracts and the views expressed. “We really have tried at The Plant Initiative to be inclusive of alternative ways of knowing, so, in terms of intuitive plant communication, Indigenous perspectives, rights of Nature, anything that has to do with plants that can help to break down some of the ways that people see plants - in instrumental ways, just objectifying them - and allow them to have more of a connection with plants. And so I think it’s important to go beyond just the intellectual and the academic and to include all other ways of knowing.”
Paul later added, “we need to stop drawing lines… Indigenous people don’t really draw those lines, they just see all beings as relatives, as needing to be treated respectfully.” The meaning of his words, of course, goes far beyond plants.
As we discussed during our conversation, it’s much easier to be respectful to an ancient tree, or a much loved or even an endangered plant. Rather less so when regarding plantae non gratae (i.e. ‘weeds’ or ‘invasives’), or with plants that are commercial products, like crops. Outside of yet related to his work with the PI Paul is looking at growing respect for the latter, specifically corn (maize, Zea mays) in Minnesota, the focus of his PhD.
He’s found local farmers to often be more than “one-dimensional” in their worldview and open to other ways of being with crops. One reason for this could be exposure to Indigenous ways, Paul suggests, corn having such an ancient, sacred and rather symbiotic relationship with humans. Whilst Big Ag remains strongly influential, Paul’s project seeks to help sow a brighter, more regenerative future in the spirit of ‘another world is possible’, even if only farmer by farmer. And for the record, GMO corn goes beyond what Paul feels is respectful, and there speaks a qualified agronomist too. “Did anyone ever ask the corn?” he wonders.
Necessary big changes aside, there’s so much each of us can do to show and nurture respect for plants in our everyday lives, and gratitude is a great place to start. For the record, I still fail often, yet every little success makes the next easier.
