A radical rethink is needed to stop the climate crisis. There are already clever approaches to how this rethink can look. We can find them in nature itself, for example. In his book Phyto for future, landscape architect Tim Kaysers shows what we can learn from plants and how this can be used to transform all areas of life and the economy.
A radical rethink is needed to stop the climate crisis. There are already clever approaches to how this rethinking can look. We can find them in nature itself, for example. In his book Phyto for future, landscape architect Tim Kaysers shows what we can learn from plants and how this can be used to transform all areas of life and the economy.
Tim Kayser’s credo is to learn from plants and use them to make all areas of life more sustainable. With Phyto for future, he is writing a personal manifesto on the subject. In five sub-chapters, he shows ways to combat the climate crisis. First, he describes the nature and interactions of plants with the environment, people and the economy. He then shows how plant processes can be integrated into everyday life and interpreted creatively. He gives examples from agriculture, energy production and the construction industry. He also provides phytotips for all areas. In his vision of the future, he draws a harmonious interplay between the various organisms. For him, this is the only way out of the climate crisis.
Tim Kaysers grew up in the Black Forest and studied landscape architecture in Berlin and London. During his professional activities in China and Ecuador, as well as on numerous trips, he developed a deep interest in the realm of plants. He has been working at Planstatt Senner GmbH in Überlingen since 2017.
“We are all connected. We have one heaven and one earth, ‘Global is here’.” (page 224)
“There has never been constancy in the plant world. Everything is changing. There are no hard boundaries in nature, everything flows. In an environment where nature is left to its own devices, plants cope well with disturbances.” (page 35)
… it gives a good foretaste of the tone of the reading. The relevance and reverence for the plant world and the possibilities it offers is deepened by many aspects in the book.
For example, plants operate the most economical and efficient system on earth. In technical and monetary terms, ecosystem services are worth over 140 trillion US dollars. That is twice as much as the global gross domestic product. Plants are therefore twice as productive as all the world’s economies combined.
…despite numerous facts, it comes across more like a very personally written analysis of the current situation and an emotionally charged pamphlet for change.
- Haptics: The publication is printed as a brochure in A4 format.
- Design: The layout is unagitated and clear. The text-only chapters are followed by colored hand-drawn sketches at the end.
- Reading flow: Kayser chooses a very easy-to-understand language. Despite the subject matter, it is never scientific, but extremely down-to-earth. On the one hand, this facilitates the flow of reading, but in some places the formulations do not always do justice to the complex subject matter.
- Visual language: The hand drawings were made with colored pencils and fineliner and scanned for publication. This captures the charm of a spontaneous sketch. They explain connections and reflect sensory impressions.
- Information: Phyto for future is not scientific reading. However, Tim Kayser succeeds in addressing an exciting range of topics with the variety of examples. The appendix contains several pages of literature and internet sources that can be used for further research.
Reading this book makes the urgency of a rethink clear. And Kaysers manages to impressively manifest his conviction that our future depends on plants.
Further exciting reading material: Manifesto of the free street.
