Have you ever tried convincing someone of something they didn't want to do by persuading them with facts? How did that work for you? No? I didn't think so.

Children intuitively know this isn't the best tactic. When a child wants something, they don't overwhelm you with logic; they appeal your heart. As we get older we go to school, are plied with facts, and regurgitate those facts to receive good grades, diplomas, and job promotions, we think that all we need to do is provide the right information and people will make the right decision; do the right thing. "If they knew what I know....."

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that facts aren't important. I'm a botanist by training and I learned, and taught, a lot of facts about plants. My husband grows plants for a living. He has to know what to do to get them to germinate, grow and thrive. Facts are important. But - and here's the rub - facts or logic without some emotional connection are sterile; they will not take root and grow. I learned this years ago when my husband and I taught a wildflower identification class. We started in the classroom, teaching the parts of a flower, types and orientation of leaves (simple, compound, serrated, palmate), and so on - all the things you need to know to identify a plant by name and family. But it wasn't until we got into the field, when people saw and touched plants, until we talked about their stories (yes, plants have many stories) - it wasn't until our students began to make emotional connections that any real learning took place. It was such a joy to see their passion for wildflowers emerge. Okay, so maybe wildflowers are easy to connect with - after all they are pretty and smell good. Concepts such as climate change are more challenging. But the lesson is the same.

We can apply facts and logic until we're blue in the face. But if we don't capture peoples' hearts, what we communicate to their heads doesn't matter. Deep down we know this. We just need to remember.

Native Americans used the seed of American Lotus, also known as Yanquapin, for food.