This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Plant blindness is: "the inability to see or notice the plants in one's own environment" and the "misguided, anthropocentric" tendency to rank plants as inferior to animals, rendering them the biological equivalent of wallpaper. We all suffer from plant blindness, and yet the remedy may be found in simple daily practices that we can all enjoy.

Margaret Conover is a botanist and science educator. She received her Ph.D. in 1982 for research she conducted on leaves of the lily family in Australia. Now semi-retired, Margaret enjoyed a career in museum education and administration at SBU’s Museum of Long Island Natural Sciences. She teaches part-time at the Center for Science and Mathematics Education of Stony Brook University, and at the New York Botanical Garden. She is a Master Gardener, co-founder and newsletter editor of the Long Island Botanical Society and president of SBU’s Friends of Ashley Schiff Park Preserve.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)