Suzanne Simard’s scientific research shows that the traditional view of humans and plants, which assumes there is a vast chasm between them, is a gross oversimplification. They are more alike than we ever realized before. Simard explained it this way in her book Finding the Mother Tree:

“Our modern societies have made the assumption that trees don’t have the same capacities as humans. They don’t have nurturing instincts. They don’t cure one another, don’t administer care. But now we know Mother Trees can truly nurture their offspring  Douglas-firs it turns out recognize their kin and distinguish them from other families and different species. They communicate and send carbon, the building block of life, not just to the mycorrhizas of their kin but other members of the community. To help keep it whole. They appear to relate to their offspring as do mothers passing their best recipes to their daughters. Conveying their life energy, their wisdom, to carry life forward. The yews too were in this web, in relationship with their lifelong companion, and with people like me recovering from illness or just walking through their groves.”

This is certainly a radically new attitude to nature. The more we learn about the world the more amazed at it we are. And the more we realize how nature is like us. We are all kin. We are all one.  Really, this all follows from the ideas of Charles Darwin, one of the greatest scientists of all time.