CONFESSIONS OF A TREE HUGGER

I am a bonafide tree hugger. I love trees as much as Joyce Kilmer did. Trees, to me, are majestic living entities and serve as mentors to careful observers about the need to grow deep roots upon which to build your life, with limbs that invariably stretch towards the heavens. Plus, it is clear from Scripture that God loves trees. After man and God, Himself, trees among all living things are third in the amount of attention in Scripture. For example, in the earliest chapter of Genesis, God speaks of a tree in the Garden of Eden which provided immortality to Adam and Eve. And evil men cut down trees to make crosses for the purpose of crucifying other men.  So, while God provided the Tree of Life, Jesus was hung and died on a cross made from a tree.

Trees are familiar sentinels over us as we are born, grow old, and die. They are both constant and steadfast companions to us as the world changes and people are thrown to and fro by tragic events of our own making. And trees are very ancient, relatively speaking. Some Sequoias, for example, were thriving centuries before Jesus was born. These groves of trees are nothing less than national treasures.

As a teenager, I would collect fruit from trees and relish the intoxicating fragrance of the cedar and the softness of its boughs. One of my favorite Bible verses is about trees:

For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.“

What is Isaiah saying in Chapter 55? Or, what is God saying through Isaiah?  In what way do mountains and hills sing?  Who among us has ever seen, or would even admit to seeing, trees clap their (What?!) Elsewhere in the Bible, we are told that trees shout for joy (1 Chronicles 16:33), sing (Psalm 96:12), and even argue (Judges 9:7–15.)

Daily and sadly, trees are cut down, often arbitrarily and capriciously, without a second thought, whether in the Amazon Basin far south from here or in our neighbor’s backyard. This is done in the name of progress or for the sole reason that someone might enjoy a better view of the countryside from his front porch. Today, entire generations of trees are destroyed by carelessly set wild fires. Even the Sequoias, themselves, which are related to the Cyprus family, are threatened. Nothing is sacred as far as man is concerned. Certainly nothing in nature, at least.I don’t reason concretely or take everything literally.  I understand allegory and metaphor and the Bible contains both.  But I have always wondered whether we only scratch the surface of this life as we pass through, and whether there is much more around us that we are unaware of?  Are we behaving as three-dimensional beings in a material world that is actually multidimensional in a metaphysical world?  If so, what might we be missing?  We know there are many more colors in existence that we cannot see, or sounds at frequencies we cannot hear.  What else escapes our notice? Suppose we asked a question aloud and the reply took several years to register on our senses? Would we be aware of it? Would we even have the patience to wait?¹

And what if God takes His time answering us?

Nor am I suggesting trees can talk, though they can and do communicate with each other according to the Smithsonian Magazine.

THE INDISPUTABLE TRUTH

Author Lynne Baab reminds us of what we all already know:

Trees take simple ingredients from the air and soil – carbon dioxide, water, and minerals – and turn them into sturdy branches, shimmering leaves, delicious fruit, and precious oxygen. Because humans and other mammals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, trees give balance, providing the oxygen that is essential for human life. Without trees, the rising carbon dioxide level of the air would make life impossible for two reasons: lack of oxygen for mammals to breathe and ever-increasing temperatures caused by carbon dioxide’s greenhouse effect.”

And the way that water travels from the roots of a tree to the upper canopy, sometimes hundreds of feet in the air is a miracle in and of itself.  The short answer is that tree tops “suck” the water upwards.  Ergo:

As water is evaporated from the surfaces of leaves in a process called transpiration, a negative pressure is created that pulls more water into the leaves from the xylem. The cohesion of water molecules, meaning their tendency to stick together, allows this pulling force to be transmitted down the water column all the way to the roots. Adhesion between water molecules and the xylem walls helps to maintain the structural integrity of the water column against gravity and facilitate upward movement.”

A giraffe, on the other hand, needs a positive blood pressure of 280/180 to push fluids from the heart to the brain.  With trees, it is a negative pressure.

As far as the Amazon is concerned, our children and grandchildren will pay heavily for the destruction of the Amazon Basin and deforestation elsewhere.  The rain forests of Brazil have been called “the lungs of the planet,” and the fact that they are a continent away does not change the fact that we will suffer as well, as the late James Lovelock would remind us.  This suffering will come in the form of more and more people with asthma and other breathing disorders, accelerated climate change, perhaps even more mass migration to our borders.

TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

As I get older, I also feel more of a connection with the biosphere.  If I lived in midtown Manhattan or some arid part of the U.S., I might not feel this way.  But living in the Catskills, life is positively abundant.  Scoop up a bucket of water from a pond and the number of tadpole hatchlings are too numerous to count. Turn over a rock or split a rotting log and you might see half a dozen different denizens, including, perhaps, amphibians such as salamanders and reptiles such as snakes. Shelf-like fungus the size of dinner plates adorn the trunks of hardwood trees. Moss is not only merely present on the rock faces and groves, but it forms plush carpets many inches thick. As Longfellow put it:

This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.”

Druids of eld (old.)  Possibly, the Dryads and Hamadryads² that the Greeks wrote about?  Or, perhaps the Ents of Lothlórien in JRR Tolkien’s trilogy?

Squirrels, chipmunks, voles and mice scamper about in the forest, to peek at you curiously from some secluded sanctum.  Foxes, rabbits and skunks are found in abundance in these hardwood forests. If there is a clearing in the woods and the timing is right, you might see a small herd of deer. Several years ago, as twilight approached one evening, I saw seven or eight deer slip silently at a canter through a strand of birch trees, like ships running a blockade at sea on a moonless night. Black Bears are also common in my county, and then there is the occasional moose who has lost his way.

Birds prefer certain trees according to their genus.  Raptors such as eagles and osprey often choose the tall spruce while others such as owls prefer dense, deciduous junipers or cottonwoods.  And there are wildflowers everywhere: Red Trilliums and Marsh Marigolds, Trout Lilies and Twinflowers to name just a few. Depending on the soil and the canopy, you might find Lady Slippers, a subfamily of orchids, hiding in the shade or the ghostly, fleshy Indian Pipes, who apparently based on recent discoveries, are directly nourished by trees.  Consider:

It was long believed that Indian pipes were saprophytes — deriving their nutrition from decayed organic matter — but current findings suggest that they are one of the many plants discovered to be obtaining energy through a complex mycorrhizal relationship. The roots of Indian pipes are connected with fungal mycelium, which in turn are connected to the roots of photosynthetic plants, often beech [trees]. Therefore, Indian pipes get their energy indirectly from other green plants. . .”

So, trees which produce chlorophyll necessary for photosynthesis share the nutrients necessary for life with plants that cannot produce chlorophyll (such as the Monotropa uniflora.)Equally curious is flower of the Jack-in-the-plant which abounds in the Northeastern U.S., and which replaces its withered flower with miniature, bright orange berry-like seeds in the fall.  And what would a forest be without ferns, princess pine and other ground creeping flora?

But none of these things can exist apart from the trees of the forest, whose branches provide shelter and safety in some cases, and whose leaves fall to the ground in autumn and produce the humus that nurtures the plant life as well as future generations of trees, themselves in other cases. Absent trees on this planet, all of this diversity would be doomed.

Then, there are the miniature cousins of trees two or three times removed, such as Blueberry bushes and Arrowwood, Dogwood, Rhododendrons, Mountain Laurel and Bearberry shrubs.  Put together, there is an abundance of things to discover, uncover and enjoy at your convenience in the forest.

WHAT ARE TREES ACTUALLY CAPABLE OF?

Writing an essay in “The Age of Empathy,” author Doug Brown puts it simply (and perhaps, too simply) when he describes trees thusly:

Trees are not merely alive in some abstract conception of biological life. Trees experience life. Trees know each other. Trees relate to each other. Trees know their own species and will cooperate with siblings to help each other survive. They communicate oncoming risks, such as parasitic or viral infestations. They know the other plants around them that are symbiotic to them, and they share nutrients back and forth. They know the species that are antagonistic to them and take sophisticated steps to combat them. . .

Trees learn. Trees retain knowledge. Trees nourish, sometimes giving of themselves to their fellows who are lacking in sugars or defense chemicals. We’ve lived too long with the idea that trees compete for the sun. In fact, trees with abundant canopies and wide access to sunlight will use their roots and mycorrhizal networks to send energy to their less fortunate siblings, sometimes even nourishing a stump.

The trees know their families, they know their neighbors. Yes, they know their competitors too. Trees know the risks they face. They know their lifegiving sources. They know their sunlight, their water, their soil, their seasons.“

All of this has existed since trees first appeared on the planet. We’re only discovering this now, however.  And what other discoveries concerning trees await us in the future?

CONFESSIONS OF A TREE HUGGER

I was not always a tree-hugger (the scornful, pejorative term used by many on the political right.)  As a youth, I was wanton and disrespectful of trees.  I would cut down trees only to build a stockage in which to play.  Unfortunately, some were too heavy for an eight-year-old boy to drag, and their fallen, decomposing trunks served as monuments to my folly.  Not only this, I was unfortunately slow to appreciate the injury that a small child could cause to the biosphere in some equally small scale.  Almost as unfortunate is the fact that some people never realize this nor repent from their own crimes against nature.  You might wonder how much five or forty dead trees weigh in the greater scheme of things?  After all, as one politician once said “The Grand Tetons are still standing.”  But when humanity was charged by its Creator with caring for creation, God likely had other plans in mind.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DEEP ROOTS

Tree roots can burrow down six feet or more into the ground. A nursery that sells trees will tell you to never water the trunk as it emerges from the ground. Rather, water the tree at a distance of three to five feet from the trunk to encourage the root ball to spread out. If roots do not spread out ten or more feet from the trunk in every direction, a strong wind may easily topple the tree. Another important point is to water the ground around a tree thoroughly. When trees do not get enough water, their roots sometimes stay close to the surface to capture whatever moisture or humidity they can. This, too, is a recipe for disaster.

There is a lesson here for people. A person whose roots run deep likely has developed a strong character, coping skills, goals and so on. They will be least likely to fall prey to scams, lies and conspiracy theories. They will be able to resist the current Volksgeist in the U.S. which is currently characterized by hate and fear. A spiritual person whose roots run deep will be less likely to toss in the towel when the going gets rough. They will have a reserve of water to sustain them when periods of drought threaten life on the surface. The winds may bend their branches, but cannot break them.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Nine (passim), Jesus uses an illustration of a farmer sowing seeds. This parable notes the importance of roots:

A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown . . .

Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:  When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

You cannot explain it more clearly than this.³

AFTERWORD

I’m not against the careful, calculated harvest of trees, provided there is a program to reseed a new generation of those harvested trees.  Nor am I against the traditional and ceremonious practice of cutting Christmas trees, though there are other options today to make ourselves merry.  I know that some populations here and abroad need to cut trees for firewood in order  to provide heat needed to survive the cold of winter.  The arguments here are the same as providing venison, beef, chicken, etc. to meet our protein needs, though vegans would say there are other options there as well.  I’m not a vegan, however.  I eschew radical viewpoints, ideologies and solutions.  But there is a lot more we could be doing not just in the areas of conservation and preservation of our forests, but in our pasture lands and meadows, along our shores and wetlands, and in our very neighborhoods.  Is there a method to the madness of our environmental policies or are we just mindless when it comes to our ecosphere?  If there is a need to teach grade school children issues such as gender, sexual orientation and race, then certainly we can find time to provide opportunities for children to understand the threat to our environment, and how we are often our own worst enemy in that regard.  We have a Black History Month, a Women’s History Month, a Gay Pride Month, a Hispanic Heritage Month, a Breast Cancer Month, but only one twenty-four hour period to attend to trees (Arbor Day) which often goes unnoticed.

For another essay on trees in my blog, please visit here.

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FOOTNOTES

¹I recall a young woman years ago with a severe stuttering problem. She worked as a cashier at a small dry cleaning store. The answer to a simple question like “When will these shirts be ready?” might take her twenty or thirty seconds to convey. Impatient customers would get angry with her because they wanted a clean, quick reply.

²Dryads, tree nymphs, always female, minor and mortal goddesses, were one form of supernatural tree spirits in Greek mythology. Dryads were shy beings, who led long lives, a hamadryad, lived inside the tree itself, whilst dryads, on the other hand, lived close to or near the tree but not within it. The name, dryad, derives from the Greek word for oak tree, ( the principle tree of  ancient Greece, the ancient Greek word for oak, “drys”, was also the word for tree), in which they usually lived, but they could also be found dwelling within ash, pine, poplar, apple and laurel trees. Hamadryads, were actually tied to trees and if the tree died, then they died, if the tree blossomed, they blossomed.

³I actually performed this parable in a controlled setting for my adult Sunday School class once.  We had a tray with good dirt, a stone or series of stones in the middle and thorns or some sort of organic debris (I can’t remember which) on the far side. We sprinkled radish seeds across the tray and watered them.  We chose radishes because they sprout so easily.  Sure enough, the seeds on the soil thrived and grew, while the stones on the rock(s) sprouted but then shortly died and withered away.  For the next few Sundays, everyone in the class peeked at the experiment, like we were all in second grade.