The plants in our lives and in our homes are the unsuspected representatives of a highly advanced level of globalization. Many of those most familiar to us got a space in the living room through a fascinating history of colonisation and displacement in which each species played roles of allies and opponents, vessels and commodities... For the first 5,000 years of modern civilization, plants humbly fed every human and animal that walked the planet. Foraging of the otherwise untouched forests, prairies and jungles was an integral part of life. Slow selection, domestication and cultivation took place. The plants themselves were mainly interested in reproduction, and humans helped by dispersing seeds, replanting and other fun tricks - it was a pretty chill collaboration. In the last 500 years, since humanity started roaming on a planetary scale using boats, plants have been uprooted from where their evolution happened and today it’s hard to fathom what is endemic to where and why they moved as they did. The following is four chapters of that story.

Discussion group meetings are held on Wednesdays 8-9 am EST (NYC)/ 2-3 pm CET (Berlin)
The reading time in preparation for each meeting is about 1 hour

Dates and Topics:

Week 1, September 15th | Evolution

Week 2, September 22nd | Expansion

Week 3, September 29th | Revolution

Week 4, October 6th | Displacement


Please note that participant numbers are limited and placement is determined on a first come first serve basis. There are 20 spots in this group. We want to emphasize that anyone is welcome to join the group, no matter what your education or experience level with plants or plant thinking is.