Plants Make Life on Earth

Plants make life on earth possible: Why this is so Plants possess a very useful quality: they can convert light into food through the process of photosynthesis. When plants absorb sunlight, they create sugar, and convert that sugar into ATP through cellular respiration (Farabee 2007). Because photosynthesis involves water and releases oxygen into the air, plants are important in ensuring there is enough oxygen for humans and other organisms to breathe.

Plants are the ultimate source of most of the food animals consume: even carnivores consume plants indirectly, as their prey often eats plants to survive. Humans are omnivores and consume both plants and animals as food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that fruits, vegetables, and grains are a mainstay of every healthy individual's diet, regardless of whether he or she is a vegetarian or an omnivore: fruits, vegetables, and grains contain vital nutrients necessary for human functioning.

Human beings are one of the few species that cannot manufacture Vitamin C: without fruits and vegetables that are a vital source of this nutrient, humans can get scurvy and become quite ill. A variety of plants of different colors and varieties should be consumed to have a balanced diet. Some people are vegetarians and subsist on a largely plant-based diet and use protein-dense products derived from plant sources such as soybeans, nuts, and legumes to get all of their essential nutrients.

For humans and animals who eat meat, the quality and survival of the plants their prey consumes is linked to the health and safety of the meat served at dinner. Plants need water to live, but they can even provide a source of water: fruits and vegetables contain a great deal of water within them, and can help organisms guard against dehydration. In the desert, cacti and other succulent plants that store water are often used as sources of nourishment by travelers. Plants are useful as a source of shelter.

Most houses contain at least some wood within their infrastructure. Additionally, plants can house animals or provide prey animals with cover and camouflage to prevent them from being over-hunted. They also help create a more sustainable ecosystem. The presence of plants moderates the temperature and mitigates the effects of the wind and sun. The plants in the rainforest keep the rainfall patterns in balance with the rest of the earth's ecosystem ("The Biology of Plants," Missouri Botanical Gardens, 2009).

Even when plants are not directly consumed for food, they can help sustain human beings. Plants hold the soil together and guard against erosion. Plant compost acts as fertilizer for the soil. Plants can be used as medicine in the form of herbs and other medicinal plant derivatives, or as products in the form of rubber, burlap, and cotton. Plants were and are the first source of warmth -- wood is necessary to heat an old-fashioned stove and to build a campfire.

Without plants, the world as we know it is virtually inconceivable. For humans to live in a world without plants would require a kind of science fiction scenario -- food, air,.