Trees – the world’s oldest living organisms.
“Since the dawn of man, they have been our silent companions.” states Maria Popova in her review of Peter Wohlleben’s book, “The Hidden Life of Trees”. Hermann Hess referred to trees as “the most penetrating of preachers.” A forgotten seventeenth-century gardener wrote of how trees “speak to the mind, and tell us many things, and teach us many good lessons.” Popov considers Wohlleben’s book to be ”a revelatory reframing of our oldest companions.” She invites us to see anew, through Wohlleben’s work, what we have taken for granted for generations and urges us to care more deeply about trees: “These remarkable beings that make life on this planet not only more pleasurable but possible at all.”
Like myself, Popov was astonished and delighted by Wohlleben’s findings; the root systems and the fascinating underground fungal networks, the nervous system connecting separate trees. “Why are trees such social beings? Why do they share food with their own species and sometimes . . . nourish their competitors? The reasons are the same for human communities: there are advantages to working together. A tree is not a forest. On its own, a tree cannot establish a consistent local climate. It is at the mercy of wind and weather. But together, many trees create an ecosystem that moderates extremes of heat and cold, stores a great deal of water, and generates a great deal of humidity. And in this protected environment, trees can live to be very old . . .The community must remain intact no matter what. If every tree were looking out for itself, then quite a few would never reach old age, fatalities would occur, resulting in gaps in the canopy, making it easier for storms to enter and uproot more trees. The summer heat would reach the forest floor and dry it out. Every tree would suffer. A tree is only as strong as the forest that surrounds it.”
Wohlleben, P. The Hidden Life of Trees
Popov ponders on whether trees are better equipped at this mutual care than we humans. She asks the question: “Are we humans unable to see the bigger picture of shared sustenance as a result of some biological short-sightedness?” How refreshing to read an article such as Popov’s, echoing my admiration for the work of this dedicated man who sees trees as the truly living wonders that they are.
Popov, M. Brain Pickings
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