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• 1 2021-04-26T00:26:18-07:00 Critical Reflection by Calvin Lau 4 E-concept of Phyto-Resilience plain 2021-04-28T21:46:48-07:00 The e-concept I have developed over the course of this semester is phyto-resilience. As revealed by my concept’s prefix phyto, this concept is focused on plant life and their inherent resilient nature. Phyto-resilience looks at plants as entities that persevere against obstacles and challenges in their pursuit to undergo photosynthesis in order to live and grow.
  
  
  
  I first began forming my concept in week two, following the task of finding a contemporary image of a landscape. I stumbled across this image and I was enamoured by nature’s ability to regrow and return, despite having been replaced by village buildings and other human influences in Houtouwan. The notion of the flora in the natural world being resilient irrespective the obstacle or challenge captured my attention and drove a strong desire to develop this idea. The next week during the photo essay task, I had difficulty wrapping my head around the concept of ecopoiesis and how this concept touched on the idea of nature being alive and active. Fascinated by this idea, I wanted to combine the idea of nature being alive with the idea of nature persevering. As a result, I landed on an e-concept named, eco-resilience, where nature is an active entity that would persevere and fight to survive and grow regardless of natural or man-made obstacles. With these ideas in mind, I came across the poem, Resilience of Nature and Life on allpoetry.com. Although the ideas of eco-resilience were parallel with the ideas from the poem, the poem was centred on the journey and struggles of a small plant. Therefore, I decided to make my concept more specific and catered towards flora and decided to transition from eco-resilience to phyto-resilience.
  
  The concept of phyto-resilience presents a fresh perspective and a deeper understanding into our new cultural imaginaries of the Anthropocene. Instead of simply viewing plants as an accessory to nature, a new and deeper perspective of plant life is gained. The life of plants is an arduous journey where plants must acquire necessities such as light and water for the process of photosynthesis in order to live. Therefore, if the task of undergoing photosynthesis is unsuccessful, the plants will simply succumb to their demise. As a result, equipping oneself with this e-concept allows them to combine scientific approaches with a deeper and more meaningful perspectives into the journey of plant life.
  
  
  The challenges, struggles and obstacles that plant life face are not always merely overcome by simply growing taller to have access to sunlight. Some plants may have to adapt to different changing climates, occurrences and environments and may have to utilise their surroundings. Climbing plants and vines are examples of this where resourcefulness is vital to the plant’s survival. Another example of the active resourcefulness of plant life is the Venus fly trap. Whilst the plant still requires photosynthesis, it also acquires nutrients that are not readily able in its current environment by digesting insects and arachnids. As for other plants, some of the obstacles and challenges they face may be natural or man-made ones such as stones and rocks. Thus, these plants must navigate either around those obstacles or attempt to break through them. One final stark example of phyto-resilience within the Anthropocene would be in the many abandoned buildings and structures around the world. Overtime, these empty husks of modernity may become obstacles and/or accessories for plant life. Some of these objects and structures may hinder the plant life from receiving the necessary nutrients and sunlight. Moreover, plants may also encounter other anthropogenic complications in its journey of life with threats of fauna, diseases, pollution and climate change. As a result, in order to survive, plant life must be resilient and persevere and grow past such challenges. With the e-concept of phyto-resilience in mind, we can approach and appreciate the natural world with its fascinating and sophisticated design of plant life, in the way that plants persist in their journey of life.
  
  
  By Calvin Lau