I ran in the Reading Half Marathon earlier this year. It was fun... in a way... I suppose. But after I finished I said I was never going to run again, ever. Retire on top and all of that. Then a friend bet me that I couldn't complete a marathon, and, owing to a sense of pride that has gotten me into trouble before, I now find myself sat in my bedroom slightly nauseous from the worry that in April next year I have to run 26 miles around London.
Still, I thought I'd try and make the best of a worrying situation and so have decided to raise money for Plantlife International. Plantlife is a charity dedicated exclusively to conserving all forms of plant life in their natural habitats, in the UK, Europe and across the world. They act directly to rescue wild plants on the brink of extinction, to protect sites of exceptional botanical importance and to stop common wild plants becoming rare in the wild.
Whilst most of you will realise this is a charity close to my heart, my reasons for raising money for them extend beyond my own affections.
Twenty-five percent of all pharmaceutical drugs, and 50% of the most common prescription drugs come from plants, for example, apsrin comes from poplar and aspen trees and morphine from opium poppies. Some of the most promising drugs for tackling cancer also come from wild plants. The rosy periwinkle (whose habitat in Madagascar is exceptionally threatened) produces an alkaloid which retards the progression of childhood lukemia and Hogkinson's disease. Similarly, taxol, an alkaloid produced by our native yew tree can be used to treat ovarian cancer. There may be hundreds if not thousands of other chemicals that can be extracted from undiscovered or understudied plants that could treat a range of illnesses.
In addition, wild plants provide an invaluable and irreplaceable genetic resouce for our food crops, three of which (rice, wheat and maize) contribute over 50% of the world's nutritional needs. The genetic diversity that wild plants hold is vital for combaiting future diseases. For example, in 1970, grassy stunt virus desimated India's rice crop and genetic resistance to the virus was found in just one of the 6,200 species of wild rice. In the same year, genetic resistance for corn blight - which had destroyed 15% the the US maize crop - was found in the lat remaining wild maize inhabiting a critically endangered Mexican habitat.
Asides from those utilitarian benefits, plants are the basis for all terrestrial ecosystems and are, either directly or indirectly, responsible for the astonishing diversity of life on the planet and the breathtaking places that we love the most.
I would therefore be thoroughly appreciative if you could spare any funds you can in sponsoring me in this year's marathon.
So please sponsor me if you can afford to do so and help raise money for a worthwhile charity.
Thank you
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