No Plants, No Life

Sir Malik: Students! Today we are going to discuss plants but first of all, I want to know what you know about plants.

Students: Sir, plants are the main producers of our planet Earth. They can observe nutrients from soil and environment that we can’t use and so they are autotrophs because they can prepare their own food. They are the starting points of many food chains.

Sir Malik: good!

Students: Sir plants and other organisms like animals including humans have a very close relationship. We can’t survive without plants and plants also needs animals to live. Plants release oxygen through photosynthesis which is very important for us and we release carbon dioxide through respiration which is also very important for nature. This cycle can be said a life cycle because almost all life on Earth depends on these two cycles.

Sir Malik: Another good point is highlighted, nice from all of you.

Students: The summary of our class discussion is that plants are very important for us because they are producers and we are consumers, they give shelter to many animals, and they play a vital role in maintaining the earth’s temperature. We can fulfill our needs with plant products like wood, fruits, and vegetables. In short, we can say that plants are life.

Sir Malik: Yes, they are. Do you notice one thing and that is the balance in nature? Everything we look at in nature has its importance and has its valuable numbers.

Students: Sir can you please explain the term “valuable numbers”?

Sir Malik: The nature is very complex to see but it is very easy to understand.

Just take your needs from it and gives it what nature needs

. The balance of nature moves in a circle and it moves around on just one thing and that is DEPENDENCY.

We depend on many things including plants and in the same way, plants also depend on many things including us. This is the beauty of nature. Everything in nature has its value and importance but in an optimum range. You can understand this with the help of a few examples.

Suppose we have some food that is enough for three people. Now, what will happen if the number of people increases?

Students: The shortage of food!

Sir Malik: Good! In the same way, if the quantity of food is increased then it will be enough for more than three persons, or if the number of persons remains constant (means three) then it can be a waste of food if it is not preserved.

Nature plays the same game. If the number of prey is increased then the number of predators also increases and vice versa. But one important thing is the number of prey is always more than the number of predators. The consumers and producers have a relationship between them but this relationship can be ideal if the numbers of both producers and consumers are ideal.

If the consumers are more in numbers then at one time the producers are under some kind of stress and this stress can damage the producers in nature which will cause serious damage to consumers because there is no food.

This kind of relation can explain the term “valuable numbers”. Are you satisfied with my example?

Students: Sir it is easy to understand the prey and predator relation, and producer and consumer relationship but it's difficult to focus on all the easiest things in nature because it has too much diversity in it.

Sir Malik (with a smile on his face): The topic of the day is to explain the importance of plants especially terrestrial plants like trees and to understand this, it is important to understand some rules of nature. Hope you have some ideas about the natural rules or laws.

Students: Yes sir, we have!

Sir Malik: It's time to come on the plants. Terrestrial plants like trees, herbs, and shrubs are the producers so it is important for maintaining the balance of nature that the number of plants is high. I want to highlight a world without plants.

As the number of land plants is decreasing day by day, some life, or in other words consumers are affected badly. Animals that lived in forests are going to die and it is an alarming situation now. We have to realize that "a danger is coming".

To handle this situation, it is important for us to make some strategies to save the main producers on earth. But firstly it is important to understand the level of danger that humans are creating now.

Plants are more than producers. They are responsible for many natural activities. They can hold the soil with their roots which prevents soil erosion, have a role in the rain through the process of transpiration, homes for many birds, and give shelter to many animals.

Plants perform all their responsibilities well but the problem begins when the plants are removed from the land and their numbers are decreasing day by day.

Students: Sir, why the numbers of plants are decreasing?

Sir Malik: Because we increase our needs from plants.

Now plants are not just the source of food but they are also the source of energy by burning their wood.
Plants were also the source of making houses and many more items like furniture, papers, etc that also came from their wood.
Many plants are the source of medicines plus they are also the source of many fashion items.

And now the culture of artificial plants for decoration that uses in our houses, offices and many more places like that, removes the good habit of planting and so we are losing the natural beauties.

When we fulfill most of the needs of plants then it makes stress on these plants and this stress is very harmful to our ecosystem and nature. And we are not plantings new plants which is one of our biggest needs for us. This is the situation right now and we are making a world without plants.

Students: What is meant by a world without plants?

Sir Malik: Suppose there is no single plant on planet Earth. Then the quantity of oxygen from our environment is starting to decrease and no oxygen means no humans and no life. Oceans are also a big source of oxygen but we are talking about land plants because we are removing(cutting) these plants for our benefit.

Plants also deal with carbon dioxide which Is a greenhouse gas. A greenhouse gas allows to enters the sun's rays into the earth’s atmosphere but did not allow it to move back towards outer space. It is beneficial for us because it is important in maintaining the earth’s temperature and in this sense, it is a life gas.
But when there are no plants to absorb carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere and we are releasing carbon dioxide through the respiration process too, then it will result in warming the earth’s atmosphere and making the earth so hot that life cannot be possible on earth.
Also, the cutting of trees can increase the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because when a tree(plant) is cut (deforestation), the carbon dioxide stored in this plant is released and added to the environment. In short, no plants, no life.
This kind of danger can also be observed in the form of climate changes and also in the areas where the summer season is too hot and the duration of the winter season is too short. This is because these areas have fewer numbers of plants. Cities are the best example of it because the factories are warming the atmosphere plus adding harmful compounds to the environment which leads to many diseases.
Plants also provide a home for many animals. Most of the biodiversity is found in rainforests. The creatures like animals, insects, birds, etc are found in these forests and form a healthy ecosystem with plants. Through deforestation, these animals are losing their homes and it is one of the main reasons for the extinction of many animals (the loss of natural habitat). Again it can be said as “no plants, no life”.
The plants found on land can absorb the water from the depth of the soil and through the process of transpiration this water was added to the atmosphere in the form of vapors. In this way, plants perform two main functions, one is that they help in the completion of the water cycle (movement of water from the atmosphere to soil and from soil to atmosphere).
And the second function is they take water from the depths of the soil with the help of their roots and released this water in the form of vapors through their leaves to the atmosphere. In this way, the water vapors form clouds which end with rain. This rainwater improves the fertility of the soil.
We all know that the health of the soil is very essential for agricultural purposes and the soil’s health totally depends on rain. In short, our agriculture system is totally based on rainwater. It means

No plants, no transpiration, no rain, no agriculture, no food, and no life.

So again it can be said that life becomes more difficult without plants.

We should encourage the process of Afforestation to save the lives of our parents, relatives, friends, and most importantly the lives of our next generation.

Students: Sir it’s the government's responsibility to manage these kinds of problems.

Sir Malik: Yes it is a government responsibility and many nations have signed to save nature and for this purpose, they give a specific amount of money to planting the new plants. But corruption and fewer resources to run a country are leading factors that not every country is able to solve and contribute to this problem.

If we are not hoping for a world without plants then it’s the responsibility of every person to have plants in their house and the area where he is living.