Plant ideology protects the world from toxins. Plants are natural air-purifiers, removing carbon dioxide and other harms from our atmosphere. For example, in the NASA Clean Air Study, Philodendron domesticum effectively removes formaldehyde to purify the air. Plants should be worshipped by humanity for their life-giving in the form of oxygen production. And “studies have shown plants can knock out stress by calming the sympathetic nervous system, and can also make people feel happier. More research shows spending time around nature has a positive effect on a person’s mood and energy levels”.

 

If this quality is used as a metaphor for online spaces, could our sociotars remove ‘toxins’ in the form of hate speech or fake news? Would they act as moderators of online spaces, with Venus fly-trap mouths that dissolve negativity before it multiplies? Perhaps through the medium of plants we can better answer the question of how people can react when faced with negative information.