 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with North America and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(September 2021) |
Proplifting (sometimes written prop-lifting [1] ) is the practice of taking discarded plant material and propagating new plants from them. [2] [3] Some proplifters engage with the hobby as a form of self-administered horticultural therapy. [4]
The word is a portmanteau of 'propagate' and 'shoplifting'. [4] However, this derivation is misleading as ethical proplifters are advised to seek permission first to take such floor sweepings. [4] Though much of the material would be thrown out, it is technically the property of the store or business where found. Also, ethical proplifting excludes the practice of removing leaves from living plants as such unauthorized removal is theft. [2] The term was coined by Sarina Daniels, the founder of the r/proplifting subreddit, as a joke, while she was participating in r/Succulents in 2017. [4] [5] Though what started as a joke quickly became an on-line community of dedicated practitioners that has surprised its founder. [4] Even so, proplifting practitioners have been accused of being common thieves by people who have misunderstood the practice. [4] [6]
Practitioners often gather fallen leaves of succulents and other plants from the floors of big-box stores. [7] Proponents state the practice rescues something that would otherwise go to waste, and gives the plants a new chance at life. [4] It is also touted as much more economical than purchasing full-grown plants. [4] Some chains have even publicly approved of the practice. [8] Proplifting from smaller stores is discouraged as often these stores will propagate the material themselves. [7]
Clipping off pieces of living plants for sale is a discouraged practice even among proponents of proplifting. [9] [7] This practice is becoming more common, and not just at large corporate chains. [7] Smaller stores also have lost revenue when they cannot sell plants that have been damaged by cutting, [7] and even the San Diego Botanic Garden was targeted by plant thieves cutting living plants. [1] Enthusiasts are strongly encouraged by the community not to clip live plants and to trade or buy rarer cuttings within the community instead. [7] [9] Despite communities of proplifters encouraging asking permission and discouraging cutting and outright theft, others see it as a slippery slope from one to the other. [5]
Some plants cannot be propagated legally at all, even if purchased. In the United States such actions may violate the Plant Patent Act of 1930 or the Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970. In the United States, there is no common law expectation of privacy for discarded materials, [10] making the collection of plant material from garbage legal.
Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded by brothers Sam and James "Bud" Walton in nearby Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses.
Peperomia is one of the two large genera of the family Piperaceae. It is estimated that there are at least over 1,000 species, occurring in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. They are concentrated in South and Central America, but may also be found in the southern North America, Caribbean islands, Africa, Oceania, and southern and eastern parts of Asia. The exact number of species is difficult to determine, as some plants have been recorded several times with different names, and new species continue to be discovered. Peperomias have adapted to many different environments and their appearances vary greatly. Some are epiphytes or lithophytes, and many are xerophytes or possess underground tubers (geophytes). Most species are compact perennial shrubs or vines.
The American multinational retail chain Walmart has been criticized by many groups and individuals, such as labor unions and small-town advocates, for its policies and business practices, and their effects. Criticisms include charges of racial and gender discrimination, foreign product sourcing, anti-competitive practices, treatment of product suppliers, environmental practices, the use of public subsidies, and its surveillance of its employees. The company has denied any wrongdoing and said that low prices are the result of efficiency.
A plant cutting is a piece of a plant that is used in horticulture for vegetative (asexual) propagation. A piece of the stem or root of the source plant is placed in a suitable medium such as moist soil. If the conditions are suitable, the plant piece will begin to grow as a new plant independent of the parent, a process known as striking. A stem cutting produces new roots, and a root cutting produces new stems. Some plants can be grown from leaf pieces, called leaf cuttings, which produce both stems and roots. The scions used in grafting are also called cuttings.
Reddit is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images, and videos, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called "communities" or "subreddits". Submissions with more upvotes appear towards the top of their subreddit and, if they receive enough upvotes, ultimately on the site's front page. Reddit administrators moderate the communities. Moderation is also conducted by community-specific moderators, who are not Reddit employees. It is operated by Reddit Inc., based in San Francisco.
Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting is an ancient practice with records of a Chinese botanist collecting roses over 5000 years ago.
Aloe arborescens, the krantz aloe or candelabra aloe, is a species of flowering succulent perennial plant that belongs to the genus Aloe, which it shares with the well known and studied Aloe vera. The specific epithet arborescens means "tree-like". Aloe arborescens is valued by gardeners for its succulent green leaves, large vibrantly-colored flowers, winter blooming, and attraction for birds, bees, and butterflies.
The floral industry is focused on the production, distribution and sale of flowers for human enjoyment. As in many countries, the floral industry began in the late 19th century in the United Kingdom, where flowers were grown on a large scale on vast estates. The industry continues to diversify from the production of cut flowers to the production and sale of plants and flowers in many different forms. The global floral industry market size is estimated to be worth US$ 50040 million in 2022 and is forecast to increase to US$ 58030 million by 2028 with a compound annual growth rate of 2.5% during the review period.
The Desert Garden Conservatory is a large botanical greenhouse and part of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California. It was constructed in 1985. The Desert Garden Conservatory is adjacent to the 10-acre (40,000 m2) Huntington Desert Garden itself. The garden houses one of the most important collections of cacti and other succulent plants in the world, including a large number of rare and endangered species. The 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) Desert Garden Conservatory serves The Huntington and public communities as a conservation facility, research resource and genetic diversity preserve. John N. Trager is the Desert Collection curator.
In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word succulent comes from the Latin word sucus, meaning "juice" or "sap".
Steve Huffman, also known by his Reddit username spez, is an American web developer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Reddit, a social news and discussion website, which ranks in the top 20 websites in the world. He also co-founded the airfare search engine website Hipmunk, which shut down in 2020.
Book store shoplifting is a problem for book sellers and has sometimes led stores to keep certain volumes behind store counters.
Boucerosia frerei is a plant in the genus Boucerosia which contains several species many of which are native to the Indian subcontinent and one species, Boucerosia crenulata, native to Myanmar. B. frerei, is a small succulent endemic to the forest area in the Western Ghats and Deccan plateau in Maharashtra state in India. It is also grown as a greenhouse plant by succulent plant enthusiasts. At one time, it was on the IUCN list of twelve most endangered species on earth, but conservation efforts have brought it back from the brink of extinction.
Some communities on the social news site Reddit are devoted to explicit, violent, or hateful material, and have been the topic of controversy. Controversial Reddit communities sometimes receive significant media coverage.
Voat Inc was an American alt-tech news aggregator and social networking service where registered community members could submit content such as text posts and direct links. Registered users could then vote on these submissions. Content entries were organized by areas of interest called "subverses". The website was widely described as a Reddit clone and a hub for the alt-right. Justin Chastain made an announcement on December 22, 2020 that Voat would shut down. The site was shut down on December 25, 2020.
The Button was an online meta-game and social experiment that featured an online button and 60-second countdown timer that would reset each time the button was pressed. The experiment was created by Josh Wardle, also known as powerlanguage. The experiment was hosted on the social networking website Reddit beginning on April 1, 2015 and was active until June 5, 2015, the first time that no user pressed the button before the timer reached zero. The game was started by a Reddit administrator.
r/The_Donald was a subreddit where participants created discussions and Internet memes in support of U.S. president Donald Trump. Initially created in June 2015 following the announcement of Trump's presidential campaign, the community grew to over 790,000 subscribers who described themselves as "Patriots". The community was banned in June 2020 for violating Reddit rules on harassment and targeting. It was ranked as one of the most active communities on Reddit.
r/wallstreetbets, also known as WallStreetBets or WSB, is a subreddit where participants discuss stock and option trading. It has become notable for its colorful and profane jargon, aggressive trading strategies, and for playing a major role in the GameStop short squeeze that caused losses for some US firms and short sellers in a few days in early 2021.
r/antiwork is a subreddit associated with contemporary labor movements, critique of work, and the anti-work movement. The forum's slogan reads: "Unemployment for all, not just the rich!" Posts on the forum commonly describe employees' negative experiences at work, dissatisfaction with working conditions, and unionization. Various actions that have been promoted on the subreddit include a consumer boycott of Black Friday as well as the submission of fake jobs applications to the Kellogg Company after the company announced plans to replace 1,400 striking workers during the 2021 Kellogg's strike. The popularity of r/antiwork increased in 2020 and 2021, and the subreddit gained 900,000 subscribers in 2021 alone, accumulating nearly 1,700,000 subscribers by the end of the year. It is often associated with other ideologically similar subreddits such as r/latestagecapitalism. r/antiwork has been compared to the Occupy Wall Street movement due to the subreddit's intellectual foundations and decentralized ethos.
The Herman Cain Award is an ironic award given to people who expressed hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccines or face masks, who later died from COVID-19 or its complications. The award is named after American businessman and political figure Herman Cain, a Republican politician who died of COVID-19 complications after attending a 2020 Trump Tulsa rally in support of then-President Donald Trump without wearing a face mask. A text label which says "Awarded" is emblazoned on the conversation thread containing evidence and community discussions of a third party's anti-COVID mitigation positions and their subsequent death.
I managed a garden center for years and imagine how I felt when plants I'd grown and cared for became disfigured from people ripping off leaves. Many of my own plants are propagations but I only took what had fallen off. People like you are no better than common thieves.
