Why There Would Be No People Without Plants

Plants and Humans Plants, one of the six taxonomic Kingdoms of different life forms generally accepted throughout the United States, play an important role in the existence of other life forms such as animals. In fact, plants are so important for life on planet Earth that humans could not exist without plants. Photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into oxygen and water, is responsible for the creation of the Earth's atmosphere; and the life forms that have evolved in it.

In addition to creating the environment, plants also maintain that environment by constantly converting carbon dioxide into the oxygen necessary for human survival. Plants also provide the food that is necessary for humans to survive, as well as providing the basis for the survival of other species that are also essential to human survival. In short, plants are indispensable to the human race and people could not have evolved, and could not survive if there were no plants.

The main role plants play in the survival of the human race is in their capacity to convert sunlight into usable energy through a process called "photosynthesis." Humans need to breathe air, and this air must contain a certain percentage of oxygen. The oxygen that humans breathe in their air comes from plants, through a process called photosynthesis.

Plants use sunlight as the energy source for a complex system of chemical processes which convert water and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into oxygen and organic compounds such as sugars, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. (Ke, 2003, p.1) The oxygen is released into the atmosphere to provide the air which animals, including humans, need to breathe. Through a process called "respiration," humans then convert the oxygen and organic compounds back into carbon dioxide which is released back into the atmosphere where plants can start the cycle again.

After being the mechanism for the conversion of sunlight into organic energy through photosynthesis, the next most important duty plants play in the continued existence of human beings is their role as food. All animals, including humans, need to feed on plants, which provide the energy necessary for survival.

"Without plants…there would be no energy for animals or other no photosynthetic organisms." (Berg, 2008, p.66) Plants convert sunlight into energy, which they use to absorb inorganic compounds from the environment and change them into organic ones which are stored in the plant. There are four groups of organic macromolecules, also called organic compounds, that can be found in plants: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

(Berg, 2008, p.31) Carbohydrates and lipids are macromolecules that plants both utilize as fuel, and as the foundation for the formation of other more complex compounds like proteins and nucleic acids. Humans, like all living organisms, also need organic compounds for their survival, and the plants provide them. In other words, the plants that humans eat, or are eaten by other animals that are in turn eaten by humans, provide the organic macromolecules needed for human life.

Plants play an important role in the survival of the human race, as well as all other animals on the planet. Plants.