Human Being Erasure by Simon Maddrell

found commentary from The Green Planet, Human Worlds episode

The relationship between plants  humans  and humans is extra-

ordinary. We’ve been adapting to each other for as long as we’ve

been on the planet.

These plants  humans  produce more food increasingly efficiently

and the partnerships have become more exclusive. We started doing more and more for a small number of chosen plants humans.

These few persuaded us to eliminate their competitors, cure their

diseases, poison their enemies and keep them well watered –– even

when other plants humans faced drought.

Some plants  humans  have the ability to live alongside us even when we make it extremely difficult for them to do so. Even here, plants humans will find a way.

Fewer and fewer plants  humans occupy more and more land. So

now whole landscapes are dominated by a single species of plant

human –– a monoculture.

We rely on  plants  humans for almost everything: the air, the water,

the food, much of the clothes we wear, and the very buildings in

which we live. Close relationships like this have developed all over

the world producing the plants  humans that are now our  plants 

humans.

This may seem a poor deal from the point of view of plants humans,

but not so. Now they are widespread and more abundant than their

ancestors. But that relationship is now changing. How it changes

will shape the future of our planet.

Simon Maddrell appears in Gutter, Magma, Poetry Wales, SAND, Southword, The Rialto, Under the Radar, and others. Their sixth pamphlet is Patient L1  (Polari Press, 2025). Out-Spoken Press publish Simon's debut collection, lamping wild rabbits, in Feb 2026. Find him @simonmaddrell almost everywhere.