Texture of Tuesday – 4 — antilandscaper

A world made of trees That lives its’ own sentinel life Designs and texture close up Can be smooth, papery, scales and cracks Flaky, stripes, thrones, ridged and furrowed Step back and they become The uniqueness of a forest community Where they are rooted in their home

Texture of Tuesday – 4 — antilandscaper

A course of action

tall tree
Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com

A course of action.  If you wish to help the earth, you might do the following:  Listen to a tree – or talk to a tree. If there is not tree immediately available, it could be a cloud, a rock, a bird – any aspect of the world of nature. Spend half an hour a day – or five minutes – or whatever time you have.

How will this help the earth? This will work because the basic problem which is destroying the planet we live on – is the alienation of us, as human beings, from the world of nature. Because we focus on our human interests and wishes (and sometimes genuine urgent situations that cannot be avoided), we have become alienated from nature. (When there is a real crisis that requires your attention, then come back to focusing on the tree whenever you are able to.)

In this way we will be getting back in contact with nature – and in our own way building a little bridge to connect with nature. This may be the most effective and most direct way to transform our relationship as human beings with the planet earth. And in so doing, we will be laying the groundwork for the transformation that is required. It will also have a healing effect on us – and on the tree too. And on those around us – like a pebble that lands on the water of a lake and ripples in all directions. Like the butterfly that you may have heard about who changed the course of world history by a single motion of his wings.

***

© Copyright Sharon St Joan, 2022

Will More Forests Cool The Planet Fast Enough? — Organikos

Thanks to Fred Pearce, who we normally link to at Yale e360, for The Forest Forecast, an article in the current issue of Science magazine: Climate change could lead to a net expansion of global forests. But will a more forested world actually be cooler? These are strange times for the Indigenous Nenets reindeer herders of […]

Will More Forests Cool The Planet Fast Enough? — Organikos

Ancient Trees & Magnetic Field — Organikos

Radiocarbon from a 42,000-year-old kauri tree in New Zealand helped unravel Earth’s last magnetic upheaval. JONATHAN PALMER Science magazine is accessible for most lay readers, even if their articles occasionally include a word we have never heard of, such as paleomagnetist: Ancient kauri trees capture last collapse of Earth’s magnetic field Several years ago, workers […]

Ancient Trees & Magnetic Field — Organikos

Maori Tree-Saving — Organikos

Tourists visiting Tāne Mahuta, the largest known kauri tree, in Waipoua Forest in New Zealand. The tree is named for a god in Māori mythology. Ruth Mcdowall for The New York Times A former kauri ambassador blowing a conch shell near Tāne Mahuta. There’s hope among advocates that Māori-led interventions have created enough time for […]

Maori Tree-Saving — Organikos

The Wondrous Capabilities Of Trees — Organikos

Diana Beresford-Kroeger at her home in Ontario. “If you build back the forests, you oxygenate the atmosphere more, and it buys us time,” she said. Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times Another round of thanks to Cara Buckley for a vividly written snapshot. Using Science and Celtic Wisdom to Save Trees (and Souls) is […]

The Wondrous Capabilities Of Trees — Organikos

The gift of forest Gods

green trees
Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

Mist-ringed towers drifting

And the snow petal

Remember the forest Gods

From long before

Who ruled all lands then.

It was exactly

Very, very long ago

When

The rains buffeted

The clouds in the sky

And much has happened since –

Betrayal,

Forgetting,

Diminishing,

Lessening.

The bitter knife of the wind prods

The memory;

Only the great-horned owl recalls,

And his friends.

Those Gods have gone to far worlds – away

And often hid,

To universes little known –

And yet they are not far,

Still here, alone,

While winds obey,

Because there are no moments now,

No distance,

No separation,

No illusion,

Only the reality,

Only the howl, laughing,

Of the coyote

Whose fur shines white in the moonlight,

Whose awareness is keen,

Like the eyes of the star.

Perceptions of snow –

Past worlds, wooded, green

The one true past is here now –

In the pinecone

That whistles in the January

Wind and in the juncos and white-crowned sparrows,

Who hop within the whiffs

Of the snow flurry,

In the winds of gold that fly

From the setting sun that falls

Behind the cliffs.

Gone now, the noble cow,

Wandering home in the mists,

Eternal mists of snow,

Of times that were and are

And are again to be

When the Gods guard the way,

To protect the sacred, snow-enchanted day

In the deep forests,

Now and yet again and evermore.

***

By Sharon St Joan

© Copyright, Sharon St Joan, 2022

Please visit the website, https://forestvoicesofindia.com. You can sign up for the newsletter too!