Category Archives: Books

A Nurturing Forest

Affinity, Books, Nature, New Attitude to Nature

 

Suzanne Simard’s scientific research shows that the traditional view of humans and plants, which assumes there is a vast chasm between them, is a gross oversimplification. They are more alike than we ever realized before. Simard explained it this way in her book Finding the Mother Tree:

 

“Our modern societies have made the assumption that trees don’t have the same capacities as humans. They don’t have nurturing instincts. They don’t cure one another, don’t administer care. But now we know Mother Trees can truly nurture their offspring  Douglas-firs it turns out recognize their kin and distinguish them from other families and different species. They communicate and send carbon, the building block of life, not just to the mycorrhizas of their kin but other members of the community. To help keep it whole. They appear to relate to their offspring as do mothers passing their best recipes to their daughters. Conveying their life energy, their wisdom, to carry life forward. The yews too were in this web, in relationship with their lifelong companion, and with people like me recovering from illness or just walking through their groves.”

 

This is certainly a radically new attitude to nature. The more we learn about the world the more amazed at it we are. And the more we realize how nature is like us. We are all kin. We are all one.  Really, this all follows from the ideas of Charles Darwin, one of the greatest scientists of all time.

 

Isolation Bad; Connection Good

Affinity, Books, Nature, New Attitude to Nature, Plants

 

Suzanne Simard’s research proved that contrary to conventional forestry protocols, Douglas fir seedlings tended to perform better if they were linked to a healthy unrelated Douglas-fir mother tree than if they were isolated. Forestry practice had assumed that surrounding trees should be removed as they would be competitors for the Douglas-fir. However, seedlings that were kin to the Douglas-fir Mother Tree did even better. This suggested strongly that Douglas-fir Mother Trees could recognize their own kin. As she said, “health depends on the ability to connect and communicate.” The worst thing that can be done for trees is to clear cut! Of course, humans are similar. Humans flourish when they are connected to others.

 

When Simard was a rookie forester, she had been mocked for resisting clear cutting, but later her research proved that clear cutting was the worst thing they could do. Trees thrived in a forest community. Again, like people, trees thrive in a community. “The forest is an integrated whole,” she said. Once more, just like people who are part of the world around them, so it was with trees.

 

Simard in fact paid particular attention to the community under the ground where there was a multitude of silky fungal threads that fanned through the soil delivering moisture, or nutrients, or even messages from older big trees to younger ones that needed help. It sounds incredible, but her science proves it. She started off with questions and ended up with answers:

 

“Were those threads, which looked like an underground spider’s web, joining trees and plants together to capture much needed moisture for the whole community? …Maybe they had nothing to do with it, since the prevailing wisdom was that trees only compete with one another to survive. That’s what forestry school had taught me, and it was why my logging company liked fast-growing trees spaced well apart in rows. But that didn’t make sense in this ecosystem where trees and plants seemed to need one another for survival. One extremely dry season, a profound dryness the trees were not adapted to cope with, and they could succumb to the blistering heat.”

 

Trees like people thrived in communities.

 

Traditional western science had always assumed that there was in huge chasm between the human world and the plant and animal worlds. Humans have intelligence, animals have instincts, and plants have neither.

Maybe plants and animals are much more alike than we thought.

More recent science, like that of Suzanne Simard is casting doubt on the traditional science and forestry. Nature is a lot different than we think. Maybe we got it all wrong. Maybe we need a new attitude to nature.

 

The Mother Tree

Affinity, Books, Nature, New Attitude to Nature, Plants

Suzanne Simard

Suzanne Simard came to realize that there was much more to a forest ecosystem than anyone had ever known. Or even considered. She learned this when she realized that trees were relaying messages back and forth to each other through “a cryptic underground fungal network.”

 

Through that underground fungal network there was “a clandestine path of conversations.” They conversed about dangers each tree had seen and how they might counter it. This sounds like science fiction, but it is science. She found the network was pervasive through the entire forest floor and connected all trees in a constellation of tree hubs and fungal links. She was able to discern,

 

“a crude map revealed, stunningly, that the biggest oldest timbers are the sources of fungal connections to regenerating seedlings…that connect to all neighbors, young and old, serving as lynchpins for a jungle of threads and synapses and nodes…the journey that revealed the most shocking aspect of that pattern—that it has similarities with our own brains. In it, the old and young are perceiving, communicating, and responding to one another by emitting chemical signals. Chemicals identical to our own neurotransmitters. Signals created by ions cascading across fungal membranes.

The older trees are able to discern which seedlings are their own kin.

The old trees nurture the young ones and provide them food and water just as we do with our own children. It is enough to make one pause, take a deep breath, and contemplate the special nature of the forest and how this is critical for evolution. The fungal network appears to wire the trees for fitness. And more. These old trees are mothering their children.

The mother trees.”

 

This is a remarkable new way of looking at a forest.  And, of course, these insights are relevant to other systems as well. How much more can we learn about these other ecosystems? It is a remarkable way about thinking about the world. It ushers in an entirely new attitude to nature.

Intelligence of the Forest

Affinity, Books, Environment, Nature, New Attitude to Nature, World of ideas

Suzanne Simard  is a Canadian forestry scientist  who has become famous for her research on forest ecology which developed into work on plant communication and even intelligence. She is a Professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is the author of an astonishing book called Finding the Mother Tree.

 

Early on in her career as a forester, Suzanne Simard was struck by the fact that the land would mend itself when left to its own devices. She noted that her ancestors on the land in British Columbia “logged with a lighter touch.  Had they learned something modern foresters had forgotten? Did they have a better relationship to nature?

 

The key thing Simard realized in her work as a forester and later scientific studies was that trees were part of a forest system. They were part of an ecosystem. And the parts of that ecosystem were intricately interconnected. As she said, “I discovered that they are in “a web of interdependence, linked by a system of underground channels, where they perceive and connect and relate with an ancient intricacy and wisdom that cannot be denied.”

 

In the book she goes into fascinating detail about how she reached these startling conclusion on the basis of solid, though not uncontroversial, science. A foundational insight she gleaned from her studies was that “I uncovered the lessons of tree-to-tree communication of the relationships that create a forest society.” She admits that the science of this phenomenon was at first controversial, “but the science is now known to be rigorous, peer-reviewed, and widely published. It is no fairy tale, flight of fancy, no magical unicorn, and no fiction in a Hollywood movie.”

 

Her scientific research led her to entirely new way of looking at nature. As she said, “In this search for the truth, the trees have shown me their perceptiveness and responsiveness, connections, and conversations. What started as a legacy, and then a place of childhood home, solace, and adventure in western Canada, has grown into a fuller understanding of the intelligence of the forest.”

 

Finding the Mother Tree

Affinity, Books, Nature, New Attitude to Nature

 

 

 

 

A very radical Theory

A while ago now I read a book that I have wanted to blog about for some time. It is time for me to meander in that direction.

The book is called Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard. Simard has an amazing theory, which I think potentially has monumentally important consequences.  It really is a radical theory and it has been attracting both blame and praise. It might be the most important scientific theory since Charles Darwin. I recognize that this is an incredibly bold statement, particularly from someone who admittedly knows little about science and claims to like modesty.

Simard argues that trees show us that they live in a complex, interdependent circle of life in which forests are a system in which the organisms in it are connected to each other through underground networks. She claims that trees perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviours, recognize neighbours and kin, remember the past, and help each other out. Simard believes, based on her scientific work, that trees have agency about the future, elicit and give warnings to each other, mount defences against attackers, and both compete and cooperate with each other.

Much of what she says is relevant for other ecosystems too.

She bases her theory on work she has done in the rainforests of western North America, particularly Canada. She places importance on the fact that at the centre of these underground networks are often Mother Trees which connect and sustain those around them.

 

If you consider these theories seriously you cannot help but change your attitude to nature. These ideas will force us to change our understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live.

 

I believe that Simard’s theory, though hugely controversial, is as radical and important as that of Charles Darwin. In fact, I consider my immersion into this theory as part of another journey I am on, namely, my religious quest in the modern world. How can that be?  I will explain but it will take some meandering.

Simard starts her book by talking about her work as a young botanist in the forestry industry of British Columbia. She found a world that was very different than she thought it would be. As she said,

“I discovered vast landscapes cleared of trees, soils, stripped of nature’s complexity, a persistent harshness of elements, communities devoid of old trees, leaving the young one vulnerable, and an industrial order that felt hugely, terribly, misguided. The industry had declared war on those parts of the ecosystem—the leafy plants and broadleaf trees, the nibblers, and gleaners and infesters—that were seen as competitors and parasites on cash crops but that I was discovering were necessary for healing the earth. The whole forest—central to my being and sense of the universe—was suffering from disruption and because of that, all else suffered too.”

 

This theory might be the path to a new attitude to nature, something I firmly believe, is urgently needed. from my personal perspective that is the point of this book and Simard’s radical theory.

I will continue to meander through this book and the forest she talks about.

What do Epicurus, Henry David Thoreau, Daniel Klein and my mother have in common?

Books, Philosophy/Ideas, The Simple Life, World of ideas

Daniel Klein the author of the book Travels with Epicurus, drew a lot of inspiration for that book from his reading of the ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus. There was another brilliant thinker who also found inspiration there. This was the American thinker Henry David Thoreau.  I would say they were all kindred spirits.

Both men were profoundly content.

When I read Klein’s book, I was reminded of Henry David Thoreau, one of my heroes.  Thoreau lived simply in a plain cabin by a small lake, called Walden Pond. One day a friend arrived and offered him a floor mat.  Thoreau declined, feeling that the acquisition would not really enhance his life and would just create more useless work. He would have to pound it from time to time to get rid of dirt and dust. Not a big job, but an unnecessary one. What good would that do him?  He found no need for it. Therefore, he did not want it and declined the gift from a friend.

 

I remember my mother’s small senior’s apartment she moved into after my father was admitted into a personal care home.  In it she had a plaque which  read, “This is all I have, so it is all I need.”  She was making do with less by deliberate choice. She was nervous about her choice. I remember when she first moved in she referred to the apartment as her “dollhouse,” but within weeks she was entirely content. She did not need much so she reduced her wants and simplified her life. This made her life more joyful and meaningful. It was less dominated by things she really did not care about. I don’t think she had ever read Thoreau, but she was in her own way, a deep thinker.

 

I think all four of these thinkers had reached a conclusion that they wanted to know how to live the most fulfilling life in their present circumstances. Each of them in their own way worked on their own philosophy of life.  Perhaps Henry David Thoreau spoke for all of them when he said, “for my greatest skill has been to want but little.”

Fellowship

Books, Fellow Feeing, Health, The Simple Life, World of ideas

 

I know someone. His name shall remain secret. He is an old man who moved to a small town where he knows only 1 other person. The two of them get together from time to time. But often not.  He was invited to meet a group of others living nearby in his neighbourhood. He did not know them. He did not want to meet anyone of them. In fact, he told us, “They are not my kind of people.” He said that even though he knew nothing about them. He declined an opportunity to make new friends. He did not want to have new friends. So now he has no friends in his neighbourhood.  None except the one. I think that is sad.

 

He gave up a chance to get together with new friends.  I figure he lost a lot.  Social scientists have learned that companionship and friendships are the greatest cause of satisfaction in life. Particularly older life, where other pleasures are often diminished. They are also the greatest source of mental health. Good friends usually means good mental health. Though of course, not always.

 

I say each of us can choose to walk our own path. I don’t want to choose paths for others. Yet sometimes I think I see others making a mistake.

 

Daniel Klein went to Greece for the explicitly purpose of studying Epicurus more closely in the country in which he lived. He wrote about it in his book Travels with Epicurus What a great goal. Epicurus an ancient Greek philosopher who never studied social sciences knew this and understood it. Here is what he said: “Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is possession of friendship.” He wrote that about 2,000 years ago now scientists know he was right. How cool is that?

 

I could not agree more with Epicurus on that point.  I am blessed by the fact that I have a few groups of friends who get together periodically. Some groups every week. Some groups once a month. Some groups once every 3 or 4 months. All groups are very convivial. We laugh and talk. We talk about ideas and nonsense too. We talk about funny things and sad things.  That’s about it. No obligations. No strings attached. All groups are very different from each other mainly with completely different people.  In my old age these groups are among my greatest pleasures.

 

Recently, Christiane, my wife, has decided that we should periodically visit the local Public House. It is a modest place. No food. Only beer and wine. Only two wines are served. One red and one white No more. The beer is crafted in the house. You can sometimes get a mixed cocktail in can. But no ice and no limes (for a gin and tonic a major omission). But what counts is vising with friends. We did not know most of the people who attended regularly, but have got to know some new friends.  It has led to great conversation—a social blessing in other words.

 

This is what Daniel Klein called “the comfort of personal communion.”That expression has a touch of the spiritual to it doesn’t it? I’m good with that. After all, as I keep saying fellow feeling is the basis of all religions, and we should note the word “compassion” which means fellow feeling or empathy, has the same root as “companionship.” These are not accidents.

 

I like the expression fellowship.  It is related to my favorite concept on which I have commented from time to time—namely, fellow feeling. Fellow feeling in my view is the fundamental basis of all morality, the best of politics, and all art. Nothing is more important than fellow feeling.

I am blessed. We are blessed. And we are happy.

Greek Civilization

Books, civilization, Philosophy/Ideas, World of ideas

 

Some people think civilization was invented by the Greeks. I am not sure that is true, but they sure learned to practice it. Daniel Klein had come to Greece to figure out how best to live out his life in his old age. He thought he was in the right place and wrote about it in his wonderful book Travels with Epicurus. That book inspired me to meander off on all kinds of tangents some of which I have been blogging about. I too went to Greece many years ago in 1989.

 

Klein told a story about he and his wife getting on a train in Greece falling asleep quickly, and learning to their dismay when they woke up that they were going the wrong direction. They took the train going east when they wanted to go west. A pretty big mistake. What could he do about it?

 

He went to tell the conductor about his misery, but it seemed the conductor was ignoring the problem and kept pestering him about people he might know back in the USA.  Then all of a sudden, his train stopped and he noticed a train going in the opposite direction that also had come to a stop by an apricot grove.  People had disembarked the train and were enjoying the apricots and sun and were telling each other stories and just plain enjoying life.

 

Then he realized that this other train had stopped only for Klein and his wife. Someone had signalled them about Klein’s problem and stopped the train to help them out. No one on the other train that the Kleins got onto complained about the unscheduled stop. In fact, they just enjoyed it. They smoked, talked, and ate apricots. It was all good. They all had time to help someone out. No one was fussed. It was not big deal. They were content.

Then Klein later recalling the episode said that he knew “I had come to the right part of the world to meditate on the best way to live my old age.”[1] These people knew how to deal with small problems of life. He had come to civilization. Greek civilization.

Klein also said, by all accounts

 

“this was a civilization that liked to talk and made the time to do so.  Later forms of communication, like the frequently one-way media of our era, did not offer competition to daily dialogue…These people were talking about ideas.”

 

Imagine that people talking about ideas. Not the latest political news. They talked about ideas. And enjoyed it with apricots, and sunlight.

 

Kleins also mentioned something we had learned about when we went to Greece so many decades ago.  It was something about ancient Greeks. They loved to attend plays—dramas, often of a philosophical nature. As Klein said,

 

“Attending a performance at the Dionysus amphitheatre was often an all- day affair in which the audience was cast in the role of a jury that deliberated on which character’s actions and viewpoints was most worthy. After-theatre discussions about justice, proper conduct, and human frailties could get hot and heavy. These people were talking about ideas.”

 

Imagine that. Taking the time out of a busy day to talk about ideas. That is civilized.

 

As Klein said, “This, in the end, is the prime purpose of a philosophy: to give us lucid ways to think about the world and how to live in it.” Yes, Klein had come to the right place.

 

It was the place where great philosophers were born, like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Epicurus. This was a place of great civilization.