An Interview with Monica Gagliano

“I think it’s our responsibility to question [Western science] all the time. And to ask, does it actually stand? Is this the only way to see? Is this the only way to think about things? Because nothing changes if we don’t question.”

Ecologist Monica Gagliano listens to plants through dreams, visions, and sensations, and brings the knowledge they impart into her study of plant communication and cognition. While connecting with plants in this way is an ancient and intuitive practice, and one still honored within Indigenous sciences, Monica’s methodologies offer a radical, real-world example of what reimagining Western scientific knowledge can look like. In this conversation, she speaks about the space of reciprocity in which plant voices are revealed and the attitude of humility needed to expand what we can understand about the mysteries around us. Sharing stories of her profound mystical experiences with Socoba and Tobacco plants, alongside remarkable experiments on the sensory capabilities of peas and the synchronization of trees during a solar eclipse, she models how we can bridge the rigor of scientific methodology with the deeply human act of listening to plants. Listen to Conversation

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