Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Who? What? When? Where? And Why?

Hello!!!

Basically the purpose of this blog is to culminate the information I research  and share it with anyone interested in learning a little botany.

I was first intrigued by plants and their natural healing powers by the book Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. In the novel, the main character is considered something of a healer because she has this really extensive knowledge of plants.

Then, I was interested in drought resistant plants because where I live, we are experiencing a serious drought. My parents are very environmentally conscientious so they decided to redo our yard with California native, drought resistant plants.

For one of my science classes, my teacher introduced a 20% time project. For this project, we are encouraged to spend 20% of our class time working on a "passion project", or something we are genuinely interested in.

So for my 20% time project I will be answering this question:

  • What are the medicinal uses of California native plants?


I would ideally like to extensively research my topic and publish a book about it, but for now I will start with once weekly blog posts.

My goal for this blog is to describe the positive physiological effects that plants native to any California backyard have on our bodies. I want to do this, but also make it understandable and clear to anyone interested whether they have previous knowledge of plants and the human body or not.

I will post at least once a week about the type of plant I am researching until I am able to organize and culminate the information.

Until next week!
~E

3 comments:

  1. I think your project idea is really interesting and definitely applicable to our current environment. Most people do not really realize the extent and extremity of the draught we are occurring in the United States, especially centered in California. Your project is a greatly needed stepping stone needed to help this draught.

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  2. I really like this idea! As a student studying environmental science right now, I understand the importance of protecting our native plant species and helping California's current drought situation is. In today's world, not many people understand the healing properties plants have and by getting the word out others could be influenced and inspired to learn more about it. One thing you might also want to look into, is how native species hold up against invasive species or how the other organisms around interact with them, in addition to their healing powers. Making charts and graphs may help you to see your progress more clearly. My question to you is, how can you make this information interesting to students and convince them that this is an important topic?

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  3. I think this is a great idea as it directly connects to the drought situation here in Cali. I think using your blog as a resource for understanding the properties of these plants is a great idea for introducing people to them! Are you also going to do any experiments to test the physiological effects? I think that would be a cool way to test what people say about the physiological effects of these plants! Look forward to the book :)

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