Reclaiming the “Urban Jungle”
I was always told that “nature belongs outside”. Often, I would bring plants, animals, and bugs inside as I was fascinated by every part of nature but was forced to return them outside. I felt disconnected as natural life outside continued, and I was not a part of it. As I matured, my drive to be with nature never faltered but changed. I no longer felt the desire to disrupt outdoor habitats. Instead, my interests focused more on the positives of the natural world, as opposed to the aesthetics of nature as an external “thing”. This caused me to wonder; why can we not bring nature indoors? Why do we separate ourselves from nature? If we can simulate an environment similar to the native habitats of plants and animals, then is it wrong to create an internal ecosystem?
I discovered that a multitude of plant varieties, such as the Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) or the trailing Heartleaf Philodendron (Philodendron cordatum), for example, have been proven to absorb carbon dioxide and various other toxins from the air, and promote healthier oxygen renewal (Bounds, Johnson & Wolverton 1989). A study done by Deng and Deng (2018) found that indoor plants help to increase concentration, productivity, and general mental health in humans. In a world that is increasingly becoming disconnected from nature, the use of plants to improve mental health is ironic.
Health benefits aside; for me, my home is a place of life. Whether it is animals I am rehabilitating, such as orphaned hares or sick birds, or the ever-increasing abundance of plants, I am surrounded by nature. I am greeted by a plethora of varying shades of green as I walk through my home; the leaves of plants from around the world brushing against me. Vines of Devil’s Ivy (Epipremnum aurem) grow from multiple hanging pots to form a canopy of variegated green and yellow leafy vines. Their coarse aerial roots grip and spread along the twine I have tied between the plants, while another ascends the wall. Originating from Mo’orea in the Society Islands of French Polynesia, but now found wild worldwide due to irresponsible disposal of houseplant species (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2018), they thrive in the indirect sunlight similar to that of their traditional sparsely canopied rainforest habitat. Over 90 plants mix and thrive in their own artificially made eco-system. The ability to create an internal natural habitat is becoming increasingly important to me as the expansion of the concrete jungles of urbanisation continue the destruction of our outdoor natural habitats.
Unsurprisingly, with plants comes a multitude of other life in the form of what we refer to as pests - life that in an artificial eco-system is unappreciated. Fungus gnats, as an example, thrive in moist soil. Their larvae feed on the roots of plants before undergoing metamorphosis into their flying adult form and begin emerging from the soil. This is a naturally occurring life cycle that in the wild would cause minimal harm to the plants on which they feed. Unfortunately, given the smaller and confined state of indoor plants, the larvae can cause irreversible damage to root systems. Due to this damage, and a general desire for a cleaner indoor atmosphere, the lives of gnats and other pests are destroyed through the use of pesticides, or occasionally natural treatments. Gnats, Mealybugs, Scale, and Spider Mites all exist in outdoor habitats with barely any ill effect on the plants as opposed to indoor habitats requiring all life deemed unhelpful to be destroyed.
I have come to realise, though, that we are adaptable. I recently introduced to my home a Nepenthes sanguinea, better known as a “Pitcher Plant”. It is a carnivorous plant that is native to Peninsular Malaysia and the rainforests of southern Thailand. The N. sanguinea uses a mixture of bright red colour and scented nectar to entice bugs, and even small animals, to the lip of its pitcher traps. The lip is slippery, and the nectar in the pitchers drowns its prey, that is then absorbed. I hung it closest to the plants with gnat colonies, and within a day a single pitcher had caught a significant number of flying adults. Not only did this help break the life cycle of the gnats, which, in turn, aided in allowing the roots of the plants to re-form, but it also fed essential nutrients to support the growth of the pitcher plant. All ecosystems have ways of working their imbalances out, even artificial ones. Instead of segregating ourselves away from nature, we humans need to learn to assimilate and use our knowledge to help balance our natural surroundings instead of “fixing” them. Nature is adaptive, and if we want to be a part of it, then we must be as well.
A question I ask myself, is at what point does the creation of an indoor habitat become aesthetic consumerism, or a continued form of ecological domestication? Indoor plants are bred, cultured, and altered to suit an idealised state for our consumption. This breeding of plants - as with selective animal breeding – has led to a consumerist race for “exotic” plants. Mutated variegations of common plants (Monstera deliciosa var Thai constellation for example) sell for excessively high prices due to their aesthetic appeal. These mutated plants often suffer and die in a natural habitat as they are unable to photosynthesise properly. The mutations, however, are the plants selling point and they are mass-produced from tissue culture and cloning.
Ecological domestication is not an entirely negative concept, however, and it is not a new development as plants have been domesticated for thousands of years in the way of crops, such as wheat and rice (Zohary & Hopf 2000). Crop domestication has been beneficial for plant life as they grow in agricultural environments that allow for more fertile soil and are significantly protected against natural environmental changes (Garcia-Palacios et al. 2013). Comparatively, Benedetto, Galmarini, and Tognetti (2015) claim that the domestication of indoor plants reduces natural soil nutrients and constricts root growth due to their confined state, resulting in stunted growth. Fertilizers are required to replace lost nutrients, and there is a dependence on human intervention for watering.
The observations I have made of the plants that I live amongst, and further discussion with other indoor plant enthusiasts indicate general stunting in size of indoor plants comparative to plants grown in their natural habitats. However, despite my reservations and personal guilt toward ecological domestication, I find it important to continue surrounding myself with an ever-growing natural urban jungle as the ever-increasing urban lifestyle ensures we continue losing more and more contact with the outdoor world.
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This is a piece I wrote for my nature writing course that has been marked highly and in the running for publication in the nature course anthology. There was no topic given, instead, we were simply told to create a 1000 word piece suitable for the nature writing genre. Reference list follows for further reading.
References
Benedetto, A, Galmarini, C, & Tognetti, J 2015, ‘Changes in leaf size and in the rate of leaf production contribute to cytokinin-mediated growth promotion in Epipremnum aureum L. cuttings’, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, vol 88, no. 2 pp. 179-186, viewed 15 September 2019, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14620316.2013.11512954>.
Bounds, Johnson & Wolverton 1989, Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatemen, NASA, United States, viewed 18August 2019, <https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073077.pdf>.
Deng, L & Deng, Q 2018, ‘The basic roles of indoor plants in human health and comfort’, Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, Vol 25, DOI: 36087-36101.
Garcia-Palacios, P, Milla, R, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Martin-Robles, N, Alvaro-Sanchez, M & Wall, DH 2013, ‘Side-effects of plant domestication: ecosystem impacts of change in litter quality’, New Phytologist, vol 198, pp. 504-513.
Zohary, D & Hopf, M 2000, Domestication of Plant in the Old World. The Origin and Spread of Cultivated Plants in West Asia, Europe and Nile Valley, Oxford University Press, Oxford.