Plant blindness is an important phenomenon with a growing body of literature. According to researchers, the educational system is listed both among the causes and solutions to this issue. Therefore, previous work regarding this matter has mainly focused on the educational context. While sustainable development is a top priority for every modern society, it has not yet been established whether plant blindness can be a substantive impediment towards this direction. This paper is an attempt to examine any significant relation between this phenomenon and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as these are determined by the United Nations. Through an in-depth, narrative literature review, we show that plant blindness should not be examined lightly as just a differentiation in preference regarding plants and animals. Ignoring flora can be an opposing factor to environmental balance and directly hinder the achievement of the vast majority of SDGs. In that context, the restriction of plant blindness becomes a vital issue for the scientific community and the policy makers. Moreover, sustainable education steps in as the main social process for changing perceptions and dealing with this kind of challenges, but through a modern perspective of place-based education, collective consciousness and vital coalitions of stakeholders.

Children’s conceptions of plants as living things are thoroughly analysed during the last decades. Additionally, many researchers showed interest in ‘Plant Blindness’, the people’s tendency to ignore plants and underestimate them comparing to animals. Aim of this research is to validate plant blindness’ intensity among Greek primary school students and clarify whether this phenomenon can be linked to the young students’ recorded difficulty to recognise plants as living things. One thousand forty-eight primary students from both rural and urban areas of north Greece participated in our study. The instrument of our research was a questionnaire that mainly examined attitudes towards flora and students’ consideration of plants as living things. According to the results, Greek students do find fauna more interesting than flora and plants are not being spontaneously recalled as living things. A relationship between students’ preference in flora and their perception of plants as living things was found, along with several other significant correlations to variables such as gender, age and participation in environmental education projects. The findings of our study enhance the general concern about the reduced interest in plant life as this is determined in the context of the plant blindness hypothesis.

The Ecological Footprint (EF) is undoubtedly an important tool for calculating humans’ impact on the environment. For this tool to be even more accessible and understood by most of the people, many online ecological footprint calculators have been created, the most reliable of which was developed by Global Footprint Network (GFN). Aim of this study is to present the Greek population’s main drivers of consumption patterns after customizing the GFN’s international online calculator to the Greek statistics and national accounts. Moreover, the goal of this study is to assess the factors influencing the Ecological Footprint of Greek citizens. The development of a Greek-specific calculator was based on long-lasting research that included gathering and analyzing information about the Greek population. Five hundred seventy-four Greeks used the calculator after its adaptation, and data were collected regarding their total ecological footprint and its differentiation by land type and by consumption category. According to the results, Greece has a low mean of ecological footprint in comparison to other European countries, but there is still a lot of ground to cover for achieving a truly acceptable sustainable way of living. Additionally, only the variable of gender seems to affect the ecological footprint of Greeks, with females having significantly lower personal EF (M = 3.37) than males (M = 4.36, p = 0.011). The adapted online calculator and the produced results regarding the EF of Greek citizens are considered as a valuable tool for policy makers, stakeholders, and educational institutions.

Plant blindness refers to the human tendency to ignore and underestimate plants, especially compared to animals. Assessing the intensity of plant blindness throughout school and university years can provide valuable clues for the design of educational intervention programs that will reverse this limited interest in plants. The aim of this study is to assess the intensity of plant blindness amongst the Greek student population, to highlight possible correlations between the phenomenon’s core elements through a network analysis and to examine how these correlations alter as students move from primary school to university. 1275 Greek students participated in our study. Their attitudes towards plants were assessed using five-point Likert-type scale items. By examining the levels of schooling individually, certain conclusions were drawn regarding the grade during which the problem is more intense. In particular, the phenomenon seems to be present in all grades, but it seems to be more intense during the high school years. Furthermore, important alterations have been recorded in the phenomenon’s core elements’ network analysis in each grade. Our findings support the general idea of a greater preference for animals than plants and enhance the concern about the reduced emphasis on plant life in educational systems worldwide.

Παρά την αδιαμφισβήτητη σημασία των φυτών για τον πλανήτη και την ανθρώπινη ευημερία, παρατηρείται ότι συχνά παραβλέπονται και υποτιμώνται. Το φαινόμενο αυτό, γνωστό ως «τυφλότητα απέναντι στα φυτά», «έλλειμα επίγνωσης για τα φυτά» ή «διαφορά επίγνωσης για τα φυτά», έχει προσελκύσει το ενδιαφέρον πολλών ερευνητών τα τελευταία χρόνια. Η αυξανόμενη αναγνώριση της σημασίας των φυτικών οργανισμών στο πλαίσιο της βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης υπογραμμίζει περαιτέρω την ανάγκη για ορθολογική αξιολόγηση του εν λόγω ζητήματος. Η παρούσα μελέτη έχει ως στόχο την πολιτισμική προσαρμογή και τον έλεγχο της εγκυρότητας και της αξιοπιστίας του ερωτηματολογίου Plant Awareness Disparity Index (PAD-I) στο ελληνικό πλαίσιο. Το PAD-I αποτελεί επίσημο ερευνητικό εργαλείο αξιολόγησης της «τυφλότητας απέναντι στα φυτά», το οποίο αναπτύχθηκε και δημοσιεύθηκε το 2022 από το Πανεπιστήμιο του Μέμφις στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες Αμερικής. Η ελληνική εκδοχή του PAD-I παρουσιάζει παρόμοια παραγοντική δομή με εκείνη του πρωτότυπου εργαλείου, έπειτα από την αφαίρεση τριών ερωτήσεων και τη συγχώνευση δύο παραγόντων. Επιπλέον, παρουσιάζει υψηλό συντελεστή εσωτερικής συνέπειας (α = 0,823), γεγονός που ενισχύει την αξιοπιστία...

Plant awareness, which refers to the ability to notice, value, and understand the importance of plants, has emerged as a significant research field, particularly considering the growing concerns about sustainability and biodiversity loss. Acknowledging the crucial role of plants in sustaining life on Earth and human well-being, several studies highlight the need for educational interventions that can meaningfully enhance plant awareness. In this context, the present study aims to design, implement, and evaluate a Teaching–Learning Sequence (TLS) with university students in a Pedagogical Department. The TLS was grounded in the principles of transformative learning, an educational approach focused not merely on the transmission of knowledge but on fostering deep, personal shifts in learners’ perceptions and attitudes. To assess its impact, the Plant Awareness Disparity Index (PAD-I) was used before and after the implementation, supported by systematic observations and focus group discussions. Results indicate that the TLS effectively enhanced specific dimensions of plant awareness, particularly relative interest between plants and animals and attitudes toward plants. These findings position transformative learning as a promising pedagogical framework for promoting plant awareness in higher education and pave the way for its future application in earlier educational levels.