Trees

Learning more about trees

I am grateful for the trees. I love trees whether they are part of a forest, woods or stand as a solitary being. I have yet to come across a tree i did not love. Being near a tree makes me smile, brings my heart joy and lifts my spirits. I love trees. When i am near them, i feel their energy, their wisdom, their compassion for each other.

We have long known that hugging a tree increases levels of hormone oxytocin and that this hormone is responsible for feeling calm and emotional bonding. Moreover, we have known that when hugging a tree, the hormones serotonin and dopamine make you feel happier and can help to holistically heal ourselves. But there is so much more to learn about trees.

For too long we have believed what the timber industry has taught the world... to see trees and forests as wood-producing systems who are striving, disconnected loners, competing for water, nutrients and sunlight, with the winners shading out the losers and sucking them dry. However, new studies are showing nothing could be further from the truth. For instance i have just recently learned that studies now show that the trees can see, remember, communicate (albeit not in the exact same way as humans) and that when a healthy tree is cut down it screams but as it is ultrasonic, human ears cannot hear it. I have also learned that trees not only nurture their saplings in forests who are lacking the sunlight to photosynthesize, by pumping sugar into their roots through the network, they also do the same for stumps of trees that have fallen a hundred years ago or more keeping them alive. This network works in other ways too. It allows messages to be sent to other trees, messages that carry distress signals about drought and disease or insect attacks so that other trees can alter their behavior when they receive these messages. That seems like true compassion and a beautiful world of interdependence. The truth is not only do we have so much that we still do not understand about the world of trees but we have so much to learn from them too.