More than one in five of the world’s plants are threatened with extinction and in fact plants are more threatened than birds. This is because birds and humans rely on plants for food, clean air and water .
What is threatening plants? The loss of the planet’s forests and other precious wild places is due to human activities such as deforestation and habitat destruction (typically referred to as “development”). Worse, we burn plants, too — lots of them. One-fifth of carbon emissions come from burning plant material. Then these carbon emissions, in turn, add to global warming.
Meet some of the plant experts at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and learn about about the impact of climate change on the health of the world’s plant life by watching this video.
Plants have a critical role to play in slowing the pace of climate change, and you’ll see a few examples of how Kew’s global science and conservation work is helping to reclaim a future for people, plants, and animals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/may/24/1
Fri, Nov 18, 2011
Climate Change, Climate Change Gardening, UK Climate Change, Kew Gardens