Yet many species of plants face an endangered and embattled existence as well. When we consider the benefits we derive from plants, it is clear that their needs for survival merit our attention, too.
Humans are among the many species whose food chain begins with plants.
We consume food in order to provide energy for our bodies. Like most other creatures on earth, we depend on energy captured from the sun's rays. Most of the energy we get this way comes to us by way of plants. They capture it in the process of photosynthesis and use it to grow. We then meet our energy needs, along with our nutritional requirements, from the plants, either directly, when we eat the plants, or indirectly, when we consume animals who themselves have plants at the beginning of their food chains.