The is FEMALE trees future

the battle between genders is a tale as old as time, but could you imagine this debate has even involved plants? That’s right; plants can experience gender bias, a discourse that happens much more frequently than you think. Botanical sexism, a term coined by American horticulturist and allergy researcher Tom Ogren, could be why our seasonal allergies have become unbearable.

Firstly, botanical sexism, Ogren argues, refers to planting practices in urban areas where pollen-producing male plants are favored over pollen-absorbing female plants. Ogren contends that a large influx of male plants preferred over female ones leads to a higher concentration of pollen making illnesses like allergies and asthma more substantial. Trees can be one of three sexes: monecious, dioecious males, or dioecious females. With dioecious trees, the male and female flowers appear separately. Monecious trees can produce both flowers. Although many trees can be multi-sex, many single-sex male trees contribute to illness aggravated by an abnormal amount of pollen. Male trees are marketed as less maintenance and messy, resulting in them consistently being planted at more significant amounts. But are they as convenient as they seem?

Despite this, urban planners nationwide find female trees too complicated. I know, triggering; we have all been female trees at some point. VeryWell Health News says this has been happening for over 60 years. In 1949, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a yearbook of agriculture recommending replanting only male plants for specific species so that cities would not have to worry about cleaning fallen seeds and fruit from female trees. They stated that the pollen seeds from male trees would be easier to deal with than seed pods from the opposite gender. The issue with pollen is that it just falls and clings to all surfaces without female trees to absorb it.

As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pollen contributes to symptoms for nearly 60 million people in the United States with seasonal allergies and 25 million with asthma. Because emission is so closely related to environmental factors, climate change could influence an influx of pollen production and lead to a rising number of people impacted by allergenic diseases. Other factors like climate change only aggravate this issue, as rising global temperatures are causing poor air quality and the extension of allergy season to last an extra 20 days. Climate variability will drive longer and more severe pollen seasons. Following a journal published by Nature Communications in May of 2022, increasing atmospheric CO2 levels may promote an influx of pollen production.

I didn’t plan for this article to sound like an academic journal, but this is serious. So let me get to the point: people across the country suffer from allergies more than ever. Climate change is going to make it even worse. In contrast, all city planners thought male trees were easier to maintain. Man, were they wrong because if anything is “messy,” it is for sure pollen? Global warming is causing plants to procreate faster, causing longer pollinating spells. Instead, our local governments would let it be hard for us to breathe rather than plant female trees that would take a little more out of their economic tax bracket to maintain.

Female trees are seen as a lot more problematic because they leave fruit and seeds everywhere. Planting more female fruit trees could benefit urban areas and lower-income citizens. Imagine the access to healthier food options for those who cannot afford them, especially with the rising prices plaguing the marketplace. But the economy is not trying to spend extra tax money on cleaning amenities. Plus, horticulture specialists have used male trees for so long that undoing this mess will cost a pretty penny.

Long story short, men continue to cause us suffering even during spring allergy season in tree form. But female trees will take a lot of it away by doing what they were made to do naturally, sponge up pollen. Air pollution is already a massive issue for cities in urban areas. Awareness of the importance of our air quality and what is negatively impacting it can help benefit the public’s health. The solution to this debate only lies in compromise. It all depends on the decisions of urban planners and if they incorporate several female trees in city plans to balance out the male-dominated ecosystem created in urban areas. It’s crazy that the female gender has to deal with policing their reproductive system across all flora and fauna.

With global warming at an all-time high, continuing only to plant dioecious trees will make it harder for us to breathe healthy air. Planting female trees will help absorb the excessive pollen production and restore a natural balance to the ecosystem and air quality. To think city officials have been afraid to plant a couple of female trees because they don’t want to pay a little extra for fruit to be picked up off the ground? I don’t know about you, but it sounds like urban planners are simply too lazy to care about public health and would rather not spare part of our city maintenance budget for a cause that could be beneficial. A few places like Las Vegas have already begun implementing pollen control ordinances prohibiting nurseries and people from purchasing highly pollinated plants. So even if cities don’t want to plant female trees, they should be cutting the usage of male plants to a tiny number.

Awareness of what impacts your environment and health is a massive step when advocating climate change reforms. Whether it involves your way of living, the clothes you buy, or the food you eat. It’s important to remain conscious of the slow but sure changes in the world around us and how we can slow them down. Gen Z and on will be the ones that have to deal with its consequences. Social media has made it much easier to recognize environmental issues and how they will affect our future. Seriously though, who would have thought the sexism in the plant world would cause us to suffocate ourselves literally? That in itself proves to me there is no future without females.

Written by Gael Laguerre Art & Layout by Michelle Goldman