Watching TV good for planet: Research

tech.hindustantimes.com:

According to new research published in the Annals of Botany by Oxford University Press, watching nature documentaries increases people's interest in plants, potentially leading to involvement in botany and ecology.

40 per cent of plant species are on the verge of extinction. Plants that do not immediately benefit people are especially vulnerable. Humans sometimes fail to realise the significance of many plants due to a cognitive bias known as "plant blindness" or "plant awareness disparity." While humans are often worried about endangered animals, problems with plants are more difficult to identify and resolve. Plants, for example, get less than 4 per cent of federal support for endangered species in the United States, although accounting for 57 per cent of the list.

Researchers here noted that in the past several natural history productions, including Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II, Seven Worlds, and One Planet, made viewers much more aware of the animals on the shows. While scientists cannot draw a clear link between such TV shows and conservation efforts, nature documentaries provide a direct way to reach mass audiences and engage them.

Here, the researchers investigated whether nature documentaries can promote plant awareness, which may ultimately increase audience engagement with plant conservation programs. They focused on Green Planet, a 2022 BBC documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The show, watched by nearly 5 million people in the United Kingdom, featured a diversity of plant species, highlighting vegetation from tropical rainforests, aquatic environments, seasonal lands, deserts, and urban spaces. The program also addressed environmental concerns directly, examining the dangers of invasive