People–plant interactions and the ecological self

• Main Author: Matthew DelSesto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020-05-01
• Series: Plants, People, Planet
• Subjects: green care and horticultural therapy; plants and society; pragmatism and symbolic interaction; social and environmental psychology; theories of the self
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10087

Societal Impact Statement This article calls attention to a promising area of research and practice with great societal impact: the potential of people–plant interactions to transform individuals and communities. Overall, the article connects insights from the practice of therapeutic horticulture to broader perspectives from social theory. A better understanding of these connections can increase opportunities for meaningful human engagements with plants and encourage implementation of interventions that might contribute to the flourishing of personal, community, and ecological life. Summary This article investigates some of the important contributions that plant environments can make to the transformation of the self, and to social life more generally. While therapeutic horticulture practices demonstrate the positive impacts that plants have on human health, social theories of the self do not typically account for what can be learned from these practices. Accordingly, this article reviews theories of the self with an eye toward understanding how people–plant interactions invite new approaches to the self. This perspective demonstrates that, much like living plant ecologies, the self can be conceived as highly relational and interdependent. A spectrum of people–plant interactions is introduced to clarify the variety of possible situations that might contribute to the emergence of a more ecological self. Conclusions about how the experience of people–plant interactions contributes to the transformation of the self are offered, with relevance for future scholarly research and horticultural practice.