Plants do so much for us, but in our modern world, it’s easy to miss how much they actually contribute. If you are able to spend a day realizing how many conveniences come from plants, you’ll soon realize how horrible it would be without them.
We are going to rule out synthetic based products because originally these items were created from natural sources. Let’s discuss some items that we find most important and a few fun ones that wouldn’t exist if there were no plants.
We decided to write this article in honor of Plant Appreciation Day.
Reading and Writing Material
Even with so many things being digitized these days, people still love to read physical books and jot notes down on scratch paper. We still write plant lists and draw up yard sketches by hand.
You need tree pulp or other natural fibers to make any kind of paper. A lot of paper today is made from recycled paper, but it still came from a plant source originally.
Toilet paper
Most of the civilized world would be lost if we didn’t have toilet paper. There are many other bathroom and hygiene items that are made from plant fibers, but bath tissue would probably be the most noticeably inconvenient to go without.
Fabric
Clothing is another thing that we make from plant fibers. We used to use animal hides and have recently started using synthetic fibers like polyester, but cotton is still the most common fabric used today.
Pigments
Paint and makeup were originally made from plants. Colors were indicative of the available plants. You can essentially distinguish
Art has evolved. Makeup is a huge industry that is turning back around and making more and more natural products based on plants. Synthtics aside, the world woudl be a very dull place without colored paintings and makeup.
Fire
Don’t you love sitting by a glowing fire on a cool autumn evening? If there were no trees, there’d be no wood to burn. You might think that other things like gas, but guess what? That’s also made from plants!
Gas
No gas means no cars or other fossil fuel powered equipment. Gas is made from oil which is created after plants and
If we didn’t have any fossil fuels to burn, we’d have a lot less electricity and it would be harder to live in colder climates. Green energy methods are rising, which is a good thing.
Beer, Wine, And Spirits
If you didn’t read between the lines above, beer and wine are also made from plants. No hops
Alcohol is made by fermenting sugar, grains, fruits. It would be a sad world indeed without these beloved drinks.
Coffee
If you think the loss of those beverages would be bad, what about having no coffee? The world runs on coffee. People are obsessed with their morning “Cup of Joe” and seem like it would be the end of the world if they didn’t have coffee.
Coffee beans are harvested from Coffea plants. The beans (or actually seeds) form inside the fruit of the plants.
Corks
Corks are made from the bark of a tree. They punch out corks and then crumble the remaining bark and press it into cork boards. Who doesn’t love pinning notes to their office cork board? Let’s also not forget
Chocolate
Bittersweet, milky, dark, or any other
Food
There’s no denying that our nutrition comes from plants. Even the most processed foods started out as some form of
Medicines
All forms of medicine have been derived from plants. This is why there is such an uprising about destroying the rain forest. Decimating so many unknown species prevents us from ever discovering medicinal uses that could be had.
They could be the solution to the world’s biggest issues, but we will never know if they become extinct.
Air
Plants remove carbon dioxide and other toxins from the air to provide us clean oxygen to breathe. Aquatic species also do the same for water so sealife can breathe. Land plants also prevent erosion of our soil.
Whether they grow in water or on land, plants provide clean oxygen for all living things to breathe.
Life, in general, would most likely cease to exist if we didn’t have plants on Earth. Either that, or we would have had to do some serious adapting and it would probably be a dreary place
Hopefully, these items have inspired you to think about
What items would you be lost without if we didn’t have plants?
