Gentlemen; Start Your Fruits and Vegetables

Posted @ Dec. 19 2011 11:58AM by Bob Carey - home-garden

Very few kids care about plants; with the possible exception of hemp. Most kids are very interested in cars; with the possible exception of those debilitated by hemp.

As an unabashed plant enthusiast, I see plants everywhere; even where there are no stems and seeds. As an informal educator, I love to establish and strengthen the perception that there's nary a topic you can imagine that doesn't have a connection to plants.

A big breakthrough came for me with a classroom full of middle school kids a few years back while we were talking about fossil fuels. In a stroke of luck as much as anything, we were able to get from fossil fuel to bio-fuel to asphalt to automobile; trailing plants all the way. Right about that time, the Ford Motor Company was making a big deal about the fact that they used soybeans as a raw material for padding and cushioning in that particular year's Mustang. BAM! the kids were on board with the whole plant thing.

That story and that experience has become the basis of my efforts to further engage other audiences in the opportunities that an interest in plants can afford, particularly young people.

Plant concoctions have always existed in the stuff of our lives, even modern stuff. It's just as consumers we are far removed from the processes that produce most of what we see and use. But people do use drugs. That, however, is a risky place to start when lecturing school children.

Many years ago I was moderating a multi-day program for an audience interested in native plants. The social time at meals and breaks was almost more interesting than the program itself in many ways. As a guy with some facility with woody plants only, I was always in awe of the folks who grew and managed large crops of annuals and unusual perennials.

One evening after dinner, I was sitting with a group of growers and asked where they got the training and experience they needed to be so good at what they do. Without exception (there were six of us) they said, "growing pot".

I know lecturing about drugs and plants is a lousy business plan for what I hope to accomplish. On one hand, the car thing is a lot more benign, and for many reasons, a lot more interesting. And along comes Lexus...

In recent years, in an effort to make cars eminently recyclable, there has been a trend to use what my generation might consider to be unconventional materials in their manufacture. Soybeans were a start.

In another stroke of luck (and in this case it's better to be lucky than smart), I discovered that engineers at Lexus are building cars with at least seven plant-derived materials; including sugar.

The list I of materials I compiled includes sugarcane, soybeans, castor seed oil, bamboo, corn, sweet potatoes and the one to watch; kenaf fiber.

Let's talk about the sugar thing for a moment. Plastic components are ubiquitous in today's automobiles and lots of other stuff. Plastic made from sugarcane is durable and dodges the whole petroleum issue nicely. What a great platform it'll provide for discussions with middle school students next time I am in the classroom.

Also, did you know certain fungi can concentrate metals from waste material? I see engines and other auto parts made from metal scavenged by mushrooms in landfills and waste sites. Can an orange-peel auto be far behind?