Back in the ’60s, there was a bumper sticker one occasionally saw, which said: “Have You Thanked a Green Plant Today?” It was a clever notion, intended to raise people’s awareness of our dependence on plants, and the idea seems even more relevant in this age of global warming and ozone depletion than in the ’60s, when smog was the big issue.

This being the season of thankfulness, and I being the born pontificator that I am, I must ask whether you have thanked a green plant lately. Consider the festive table you sat down to on Thanksgiving day. What part did plants play in that meal, and every meal? Of course, they played the key part. Even the turkey was brought to you by some hard-working corn and soybean plants in the Midwest. Everything we eat comes from plants in one way or another.

But it seems the fate of plants to be eternally taken for granted. They are always there, working away at photosynthesis, filling in the background, covering over the bare spots. Their steadfastness absolutely begs to be taken for granted.

By way of not overlooking the blessings of plant life, imagine this. Instead of mashed potatoes and turkey, your Thanksgiving table is set with just the raw materials of photosynthesis: a little cloud of carbon dioxide, a glass of water, and some minerals like phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. Now it’s up to you to make a feast of it. Where do you start? Mix the minerals and water together, and all you get is a slightly toxic solution. Add the CO2 and it’s carbonated. Cheers!

But there is more. Plants don’t just feed, clothe and shelter us, they purify our world in a way that we cannot. Plants take carbon dioxide from the air and give off pure oxygen as the major byproduct of photosynthesis. What a bargain! They take away the gas that seems to be causing global warming and give back the gas we need to stay alive. In fact, if we were to plant enough trees and leave them to grow to a ripe old age, they would handily tie up sufficient CO2 to forestall the greenhouse effect.

Plants offer perhaps the ultimate solution to our water polluting tendencies, as well. All over the world scientists and engineers are discovering that aquatic plants can remove virtually any pollutant from wastewater, and they can do it more economically and effectively than any man made filter or chemical treatment. Visit Disney World and you will see ponds filled with water hyacinth. They are the sole method of wastewater treatment, and when the water hyacinths grow too thick, they are harvested to make compost. The compost fills the flower beds, and the cycle is complete: from unwanted waste to a feast for the eyes, in just a few weeks.

Plants are the original recyclers. They take the refuse of the animal world and convert into what we need to go on living. So what’s not to be thankful for?

Michael Zuck of Bangor is a horticulturist and the NEWS garden columnist. Send inquiries to him at 2106 Essex St., Bangor, Maine 04401.