MONICA GAGLIANO COMMUNICATES WITH PLANTS
SUBJECT
Monica Gagliano
OCCUPATION
Evolutionary ecologist
INTERVIEWER
Sally McKern
PHOTOGRAPHER
David Maurice Smith
LOCATION
Northern Rivers, Australia
DATE
November, 2019
Monica Gagliano is one of those rare scientists who has the courage to walk her own path through a field of sceptics and critics. Having forged a successful career as a marine scientist, she followed a deep curiosity emanating from her own backyard to start studying plant behaviour. Over a period of time, she was able to perform groundbreaking research which demonstrated that learning, memory and decision-making are not exclusive to the animal world.
Growing up in northern Italy, Monica now works in universities across Australia, and has pioneered the research field of “plant bioacoustics,” which looks at the ways plants emit their own voices and detect and respond to sounds in their environment. Her work has been featured in David Attenborough’s documentary series, Natural Curiosities. As well as authoring numerous scientific articles, Monica recently released a book titled Thus Spoke the Plant—a remarkable journey of groundbreaking scientific discoveries and personal encounters with plants. The book’s message is threefold: to show that the plant world is conscious and that it is consciously supporting us even if we are not aware; that we all have a unique path to walk and if we stop and listen to our plant friends that path can be shown to us; and that the plant world is calling for our deep respect and co-operation, and it is crucial now that we listen.
SALLY MCKERN: I’ve been inspired by your openness to go into the unknown and to learn from nature, returning with all sorts of gifts that you have had the courage to share through your scientific work and now through your book, from your most personal perspective. And I’m curious about the scientific and personal experience of communicating with plants, which some may see as being quite esoteric. Do you see yourself as bringing science to esoteric ideas?
MONICA GAGLIANO: For me there is nothing esoteric about communicating with plants, or more generally with nature. In fact the more I travel and connect with people, the more normal I see it is. It makes me think of a quote by Nietzsche, who said the facts of today will be the fables of tomorrow. I think we can invert that because we have had a big fable about not communicating with plants, and now the opposite of that is becoming the fact of tomorrow, or today really. More and more, for example, I’m seeing colleagues engage scientifically with the fact that plants are using sound to communicate with humans and other creatures. So I think it’s just a matter of time that this will be normalised; it will be like, oh yeah, we have always known this on some level and now we’re just fully embracing it!
