The Fascination of Plants Day

Monday, May 13th, 2013

May 18, 2013, the 2nd International Fascination of Plants Day 

This year’s Fascination of Plants Day, a plant scientists’ initiative launched last year, has been already adopted by 54 countries worldwide. All information about this initiative can be accessed via www.plantday12.eu and is supported world-wide by a network of National Coordinators who voluntarily promote and disseminate the activity within their countries. Already over 600 scientific institutions, universities, botanical gardens, and museums, together with farmers and companies, announced that they will open their doors, with a variety of over 800 plant-based outreach activities for all interested people from toddlers to grandparents. 

This special day will put the fascinating world of plants itself in the spotlight:numerous activities on and around the Fascination of Plants Day, under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO — www.epsoweb.org) and the Global Plant Council, will plant virtual and constantly germinating seeds in the collective mind of the World Public recalling that plant science is of critical significance to the social, environmental and economic landscape now and in future. 

Plants are unique organisms. They can produce sugars just from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water. This ability to directly synthesize their own food has enabled plants to successfully colonize, adapt to, and diversify within almost every niche on the planet and biologists estimate the total number of plant species to be about 250000. These abilities make plants the primary producers of biomass providing animals and mankind with food, feed, paper, medicine, chemicals, energy, and an enjoyable landscape. Anyone who would like to contribute to the Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD) is welcome to join in. Just contact your National Coordinator (click on “countries” at www.plantday12.eu) to discuss and get access to all the supporting materials. The media are also kindly invited to get involved, and scientists, farmers, politicians and industrialists will discuss with them and present the latest state-ofthe-art breakthroughs in the plant science world and explore all of the new potential applications plant sciences can offer. The Fascination of Plants Day covers all plant related topics including basic plant science, agriculture, horticulture & gardening, forestry, plant breeding, plant protection, food & nutrition, environmental conservation, climate change mitigation, smart bioproducts, biodiversity, sustainability, renewable resources, plant science education & art. 

The 1st International Fascination of Plants Day was an incredible start of the initiative – over 583 institutions across 39 countries worldwide hold events that attracted hundreds of thousands of people – see for yourself the success stories at http://www.plantday12.eu/downloads2013/Success_EPSOglobal_FoPD2012.pdf.

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