Editor, The Beacon:

It has long been theorized that plants could communicate with each other. Recently Suzanne Simard of Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, has scientifically proved this to be true.

By a process called mycorrhizal networks, conifer and flowering trees in a forest are able to communicate, chemically, hormonally and electronically through a series of fungal threads. This arrangement is similar to the electrical grid connecting our homes.

The point is that plants of different species exchange nutrients for the benefit of all the plants in the entire forest regardless of their differences.

It’s troubling to me that supposedly the most intelligent life form on Earth cannot adopt a similar cooperative way of perpetuating our species.

Perhaps plants’ cooperative network is so successful because plant behavior is instinctual. We, on the other hand, have brains with free will. This leaves us vulnerable to emotions of greed, hate and prejudice, thus keeping our world in constant turmoil that benefits no one but those who cause it.

Plants thrive in an environment of symbiotic cooperation that benefits the entire forest. It’s sad that humans refuse to embrace their differences that contribute to the mutual benefit of mankind.

The facts about plants are from the December 2020 New Yorker magazine. The rest is a personal observation. The conclusion is up to you. Are plants smarter than people?

As uttered by James T. Kirk: Beam me up, Scotty. There’s no intelligent life down here on Earth.

Tom Walker

DeLeon Springs