The Plant Initiative

The Plant Initiative is working to build a movement to increase respect for plants.

Why The Plant Initiative?

Plants are aware and intelligent beings as demonstrated by recent scientific findings. Yet, plants typically continue to be treated as mere objects for use.  In response, The Plant Initiative was started to encourage respectful treatment of plants and to support development of an effective movement toward this goal. 

Your support for The Plant Initiative's efforts on behalf of plants is much appreciated!

OUR MISSION

ADVOCACY

The Plant Initiative works to increase respectful treatment of plants and to advance an effective plant advocacy movement through encouraging policy, law, and activism on behalf of plants.

COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIPS

The Plant Initiative works with others to build partnerships and strengthen networks on behalf of plants through financial assistance, fostering information exchange, and encouraging interdisciplinary and cross-movement collaboration.

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

The Plant Initiative works to increase respect for plants through providing educational programs and materials, including building understanding of plant intelligence, plant sentience, and plant consciousness. 

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

Webinars and podcasts

The Plant Initiative was a key sponsor of the conference Toward a New Way of Being with Plants which had registration of more than 1,500 in 2021. Over 30 presentations from that event are still available online here.

Since then, we have produced a series of live webinars and podcasts highlighting many important individuals in the area of increasing respect for plants. These include: Giovanni Aloi, Marc Bekoff, Paco Calvo, Rachel Corby, Monica Gagliano, Natalie Lawrence, Joan Maloof, Michael Marder, Mari Margil, John Ryan, Uriel Orlow, Patricia Vieira, Alessandra Viola, Keith Williams, and Grant Wilson. You can access these recordings free on The Plant Initiative's YouTube channel.

Sharing resources electronically

The Plant Initiative sends out an e-mail newsletter each month to over 2,800 subscribers that contains timely resources, opportunities, event listings, and action opportunities related to respectful treatment of plants. This is an important resource that provides a unique perspective on plants.

In addition, we maintain an active social media presence on X (Twitter) with over 3,400 followers), Facebook and Instagram as well as our YouTube channel.

Promoting networking and community

In addition to holding interactive webinars, we have been working collaboratively with Networking with Plants in the Anthropocene and others to further build community and to promote networking among those interested in more respectful relationships with plants. This includes holding online networking events to help build connections between interested individuals.

Awarding grants to other organizations

In order to provide support for those working on behalf of plants as well as to build collaboration between groups active in this area, The Plant Initiative has been awarding grants to other organizations since 2021. In both 2023 and 2024, we awarded 13 grants totaling $6,500 to organizations whose work helps plants. A listing of these organizations can be found here (scroll down for the full list).