In the Eifel mountain forests of German sits an enormous tree stump. A beech tree, four or five hundred years old once stood tall and proud. However, despite its dead, long gone appearance, it is still alive, producing chlorophyll. But how? In 2009, James Cameron’s film Avatar introduced the idea of a soul tree, the hub of an enormous communicative network which could be tapped into by the Na’vi, the inhabitants of a fictional planet, Pandora.
I love this post! I love knowing that trees can learn, and contemplating their sensory engagement with the world. I'm also reminded of the Rights of Nature movement, which is quite robust, world-wide. This global alliance is doing amazing work: https://www.garn.org/
Thanks for the shout-out! And for the other recommendations. Already exploring them. ;-)
I keep coming across articles on the rights of nature as I've been putting these posts together, but didn't see this yet. Thank you for the link! The GARN membership is growing as we speak!
Another incredibly informative post. Made me think a lot about connections with nature. And I shared that tidbit about tomatoes with my family’s gardening group. 👍
I love this post and the news that Switzerland has taken the research so far! Thank you for the recommendations, which include some new names for me to explore.
Oct 31, 2023·edited Oct 31, 2023Liked by Safar Fiertze
What a wonderful article, Safar.
Trees are fascinating indeed -elders of the forest, keepers of the soil, ...and the other half of our respiratory system. What would we do without the intelligence of trees?
I love how quickly trees take over once we humans get out of the way.
Parking lots, abandoned warehouses, solid concrete a meter deep is no match for the power, grace, and beauty of trees. Tress always surface and lay ruin to our ruins.
Look no further than the photographic evidence from Chernobyl.
Trees are happily thriving amongst the destruction of our folly.
Absolutely, I love that too! and the similar wonder of fungi - Have you ever read Mycelium Running?
For so long it seems we have been in battle with nature, and it is so heartwarming to read all the research that shows what we can learn from her instead.
Thanks to our ever-clever psychedelic subculture, we know that many of the acacias & mimosas (like sensitive plant) contain DMT, a psychedelic which is also endogenous to our brain (we lucid dream w/it). So plants have some direct dream connection to us, to giraffes, to our cousin chimps & gorillas, that we are only beginning to potentialize. And of course, the wood-loving fungi of the wood wide web are another psychedelic connection that Terence proposed allowed our ancestors to swell our noggins... Here's Hamilton making the Mimosa connection, to "access other dimensions" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl8Z-BlFZ_M
Wow, Safar, this was amazing! I learned so much and I cried about the stump. I'm going to share this with everyone in my family in hopes that they think twice before ever again cutting down a tree. Thank you so much for writing this!
Oh, I didn't mean to make anyone cry, but I get what you mean. I cried (again) when I re-watched the horses which turned up when oaks were being chopped (I think in last week's post). And I'll never see tomatoes in the same way again! I don't wear perfume, but do use essential oils and it now has me thinking about the subtle impact we have, even when treading carefully.
Thanks so much for this, Safar. I'm familiar with Suzanne Simard's work, but there was much more here. I live in Washington state, in the same bioregion as Suzanne. Almost all our forests have been logged. In the first to be logged, huge stumps were left behind. These have become nurse stumps. Seeds of new trees land on them. As they grow, they sink their roots into the decaying wood of the stump. But the nurse stump continues to pump moisture and nutrients to the new tree, picking them up from the fungi and soil surrounding her roots. They are one of my favorite things to photograph.
In her TED talk, she spoke of how she had hoped her research might change practice, but 30 years on, the extent of clear cutting had increased, not decreased.
The nurse stumps are fascinating, I am endlessly amazed by how trees manage to grow in the harshest of conditions. There is a limestone area in Yorkshire, and there were these gnarled, twisted trees growing out of overhanging boulders. I got a couple of snaps of those when I was there.
I love this post! I love knowing that trees can learn, and contemplating their sensory engagement with the world. I'm also reminded of the Rights of Nature movement, which is quite robust, world-wide. This global alliance is doing amazing work: https://www.garn.org/
Thanks for the shout-out! And for the other recommendations. Already exploring them. ;-)
I keep coming across articles on the rights of nature as I've been putting these posts together, but didn't see this yet. Thank you for the link! The GARN membership is growing as we speak!
Another incredibly informative post. Made me think a lot about connections with nature. And I shared that tidbit about tomatoes with my family’s gardening group. 👍
Also thanks for the mention 😎 much appreciated!
de nada! Those tomatoes are really amazing! Glad others get to know too!
I love this post and the news that Switzerland has taken the research so far! Thank you for the recommendations, which include some new names for me to explore.
Thanks for dropping by, Tara 🙂. I believe Ecuador was the first to add the rights of nature to its constitution. I've not read all this yet, but it is interesting: https://willamette.edu/law/resources/journals/welj/pdf/2016/2016-f-welj-pietari.pdf
What a wonderful article, Safar.
Trees are fascinating indeed -elders of the forest, keepers of the soil, ...and the other half of our respiratory system. What would we do without the intelligence of trees?
I love how quickly trees take over once we humans get out of the way.
Parking lots, abandoned warehouses, solid concrete a meter deep is no match for the power, grace, and beauty of trees. Tress always surface and lay ruin to our ruins.
Look no further than the photographic evidence from Chernobyl.
Trees are happily thriving amongst the destruction of our folly.
Great, great article, Safar.
...and thanks for the mention.
I'm blushing with Joy🙏 Thank you.
I'm trying to picture that blush!
Absolutely, I love that too! and the similar wonder of fungi - Have you ever read Mycelium Running?
For so long it seems we have been in battle with nature, and it is so heartwarming to read all the research that shows what we can learn from her instead.
Thanks to our ever-clever psychedelic subculture, we know that many of the acacias & mimosas (like sensitive plant) contain DMT, a psychedelic which is also endogenous to our brain (we lucid dream w/it). So plants have some direct dream connection to us, to giraffes, to our cousin chimps & gorillas, that we are only beginning to potentialize. And of course, the wood-loving fungi of the wood wide web are another psychedelic connection that Terence proposed allowed our ancestors to swell our noggins... Here's Hamilton making the Mimosa connection, to "access other dimensions" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl8Z-BlFZ_M
This is great Bee, thank you for the link. I am exploring the human-tree connection in next week's post, so this may well get a mention.
Wow, Safar, this was amazing! I learned so much and I cried about the stump. I'm going to share this with everyone in my family in hopes that they think twice before ever again cutting down a tree. Thank you so much for writing this!
Oh, I didn't mean to make anyone cry, but I get what you mean. I cried (again) when I re-watched the horses which turned up when oaks were being chopped (I think in last week's post). And I'll never see tomatoes in the same way again! I don't wear perfume, but do use essential oils and it now has me thinking about the subtle impact we have, even when treading carefully.
Thanks so much for this, Safar. I'm familiar with Suzanne Simard's work, but there was much more here. I live in Washington state, in the same bioregion as Suzanne. Almost all our forests have been logged. In the first to be logged, huge stumps were left behind. These have become nurse stumps. Seeds of new trees land on them. As they grow, they sink their roots into the decaying wood of the stump. But the nurse stump continues to pump moisture and nutrients to the new tree, picking them up from the fungi and soil surrounding her roots. They are one of my favorite things to photograph.
In her TED talk, she spoke of how she had hoped her research might change practice, but 30 years on, the extent of clear cutting had increased, not decreased.
The nurse stumps are fascinating, I am endlessly amazed by how trees manage to grow in the harshest of conditions. There is a limestone area in Yorkshire, and there were these gnarled, twisted trees growing out of overhanging boulders. I got a couple of snaps of those when I was there.
Hope you share your stump pics!
I'll put some up in a note and tag you.
Cheers, John!