I’ve always felt an allure and love for trees. Being in the presence of these gentle giants, that have existed on Earth for thousands of years, never fails to leave me in awe. Which is why more than ever, I feel the burn (literally) when I look at all the images and videos that have surfaced from Brazil.
When the AMAZON, a vital biodiverse ecosystem is consistently in flames, it not only displaces and destroys the home for an array of wildlife but also affects the health of communities in the region. “Through July 2019 over 7,200 square miles of the Brazilian rainforest has burned—an aggregated area nearly the size of New Jersey.” - National Geographic
Not a new phenomenon, illegal deforestation occurs around the world and needs to be brought to the forefront of our news - so we can understand this ongoing situation and help prevent this floodgate of illegal and destructive behaviour to our environment.
Which is why my recent collaboration with Kristin Kaye, an Award-winning Novelist and Tree Environmentalist, is more relevant than ever. Her book Tree Dreams: A Novel has given rise to a global tree tagging campaign which caught my heart - and is currently on LitHub’s list of essential books to create a Climate Change Library.
Tree Dreams tags have been seeding the world since 2012 in 12 countries around the world. What inspired me most in this campaign is her celebration of “the myriad ways we are connected to the natural world, to each other and to our future”. Forest researchers discovered that trees communicate through their root systems and send chemical signals across a fungal network for the benefit of the grove. Yes, trees talk to each other.
There is an interconnection between the ‘wood wide web’ under our feet - to our own communities above ground.
When you cultivate and care in any relationship, you make decisions based on each other’s needs. This anthropomorphic connection between trees and humanity shows us that just like the grove supporting the growth of each tree, when we understand we are connected, we recognize every action we make has an impact.
We create a more sustainable future by cultivating a relationship with nature. When we spend time in the wild, we adjust and are aware of how our thoughts and actions can impact little things.
So I gathered a group of friends to a bench area in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. We wrote down our dreams on cardboard, soy-based ink and twine (all materials recycled + bio-degradable), shared Earth stories, Kristin’s thoughts and found a tree to share our intentions.
I’m honored to have Kristin speak on my blog, sharing how her work sits at the intersection of nature, narrative and spirituality. And what we can do now, more than ever, to connect, respect and help these gentle giants.
Elizabeth: Please share a favorite tree story of yours!
Kristin: One of my all-time favorite life experiences was when I lived with a radical environmental activist group at a tree sit to research Tree Dreams. I lived 100-feet high in a redwood for four days. I slept in a ‘dreamcatcher’—a net of pea cord woven between two branches. I was roped in at the waist and slid down inside my sleeping bag atop this net and felt like I was sleeping on the breeze amidst the earthy-sweet scent of the redwoods and the hoots of owls. The tree gently swayed side-to-side and the branches waved up and down with the wind. In a way I felt like I was sleeping on a raft in the sea, instead of being held in mid-air.
What inspired you to write the novel - and then follow up with a tag campaign?
There is a two-lane road that connects Portland, OR (where I was living when I wrote Tree Dreams) to the coastal town of Seaside. Douglas fir used to tower on either side of the road for most of the 70-mile drive west. At one time you would see clearcuts in the distance, but over time they crept closer and closer to the road until you could see them just feet away. This broke my heart, but at the time I had no idea how to respond to the issue of industrial logging. One day on a drive to the beach my then four-year-old daughter asked, “Mama, why do the hills look so sick?” Aside from telling her that we needed wood to build houses, etc., I didn’t have a good answer for her. I had no idea how to explain why the hillsides looked so sick. Tree Dreams became my very long response to her simple but vital question.
As for the tagging campaign, it felt important to me that the story didn’t simply sit within the pages of a book. I wanted to invite readers to help me change our relationship to the natural world by re-writing the narrative. This instinct became the Tree Dreams tree tagging campaign where taggers tag trees with their dreams of interconnection.
An important distinction you make between a wish and a dream is covered in your tag book. Could you briefly give us an idea here?
In many cultures, there are Wishing Trees. People write what they wish for on a tag or a piece of fabric and then tie the object to a tree. They hope the tree will help make their wish come true, as if the tree was better connected to a magic wish-granting entity.
A dream, on the other hand, is something that lives deep within us. In this way, it already exists. Our dreams invite us to consciously know something—to see it, to believe it, and then make it real. Tree Dreams is not asking a tree to grant us something that we do not already have access to. Instead, Tree Dreams amplifies the volume on what is just barely heard, seen or felt. We collect dreams from the places where they linger—in the whoosh and sway of treetops, in poems and songs, in the devastation of a clearcut hillside, in the words of wise people, from deep within our own hearts, dreams and visions—and we place them in the world. The dream becomes our intention, which becomes our action, which shapes our world. We prove to ourselves and to each other that the power to make our dreams come true does not live somewhere outside of us, but within us and between us. This is where interconnection lives.
What are some ways as an individual or community we can do to connect and help tree life - and/or forests?
What an important question! First and foremost it is vital to understand that re-forestation—planting trees—can actually combat climate change. Two ways to do this are to either participate in a local tree planting organization to plant trees in your area and/or support one of the many organizations who are doing an incredible job planting millions of trees in regions that need it most. A few great organizations include Tree Sisters, Plant for the Plane and One Tree Planted Second, if you are buying wood consider buying Forest Stewardship Council products (aka FSC-certified). This certification is akin to an organic label for food and signals to the buyer that the land where the wood was harvested is being managed sustainably (rather than clear cut and replaced with a mono-culture plantation).
Lastly, and my most favorite way to connect, is simply to spend time with trees. Sit under their branches and breathe in the lovely scent, get to know the species, leaves, flowers and fruits. Try to feel their rhythm. Sitting in nature with trees offers enormous benefits to our frazzled nervous systems and psyches and in a matter of minutes helps us to re-balance. We become more in sync with the delicate web connects us all.
Lastly, if you don’t mind sharing, we’d love to hear a favorite/special dream tag you’ve offered to a tree!
I borrowed words for my favorite Tree Dreams tag from a quote from Mother Teresa—If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Copyright Words + Images, Elizabeth Lazan 2019
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