Who Will Speak for the Trees?

 Who will speak for the trees? Or the rivers? The prairies and forests?  No one did for too long. Yet it is beginning to happen! It’s really refreshing to learn about all the groups, small town governments and countries that are pushing to give legal rights to Nature. We have for too long assumed that we can own and wipe out natural settings because it increases our wealth or status or happiness. Who cares about the streams and rivers we change? Or the trees we cut down? Or the prairies we cover with corn fields? The answer to that question is changing, though. Not long ago, our species looked upon the natural areas surrounding us as only resources to be put to human use. Certainly that was how it was when I was a child. But by the time I was in high school in the early 60’s, the concept of an ecosystem had started to creep into biology lessons. We were learning (perhaps yet again) that there were relationships between other living beings. Things were not separate. Everything was connected. Back then, we were learning that natural ecosystems were more complex that we had imagined, but it hadn’t become clear to us that we were part of that system. We thought these new theories were interesting, but we were different, the rulers of the land. After all, we could cut down trees, re-route rivers, re-purpose vast areas of prairie, cover roads with paving. We thought we were the center, and everything was there for us to use.

It is interesting that once I decided to delve into this subject, I turned to the internet. I read about all the things people are doing to mend our current situation. Lots of facts, figures, ideas. And then when I needed a break, I played Mahjong for awhile. All stuff sitting at my desk, in front of my computer, away from the natural world. Now that I’ve re-focused on this issue, I realize that to really learn from nature, it has to be nature that teaches us, not so much the internet full of facts and figures. We need to observe, sit quietly and notice what’s there to learn. And continue noticing over the long-term. What relationships do those plants have? How do they help or hinder each other? How do the insects fit in? And the life below the soil? How do plants and animals react to heat and cold, to rain and drought, to night and day? When an ecosystem is devastated, how does Nature begin to fix it? It is not a quick fix, neither for Nature to heal or for us to learn. It helps to hear what others of our species have learned. But we too easily forget that it is Nature who needs to be our real teacher. Otherwise, we might tip our understanding toward a species-centered point of view..

In our technological age, we’re not very good at this. I know I’m not. We’re used to finding quick answers, depending upon our technology to give us the information we need. And of course we are that way. Our culture is dominated by our modern technology, and it’s pretty incredible. I am not knocking technology, which enables me to write on this blog. But my intuition is whispering to me that we need to find ways of understanding our Earth that aren’t influenced by our tendency to put humans at the center of everything. It’s in our culture, in our experience. So we need to find ways to tune into the natural world around us with humility and openness. And with no rush. I am no expert on this. It is not our usual path to learning. But if we are going to save our world, we’re going to need to instill in ourselves a bone-deep understanding of our place in the web of living things on the planet. Once we begin to look out at the tree in our front yard and feel like it’s a family member, not a possession, we’ve begun. 

Then we can stand on the banks of a river and see more than the lovely water sweeping by. We will also start to see the whole ecosystem of the river, all the plants and animals that are part of its life. And we can begin to see how human “development” can displace and wipe out much of that ecosystem. It’s not a blame thing. I imagine we’ve always thought we were doing a good thing, according to the culture we lived in. But now we know that our earth’s systems have been tremendously impacted by what we’ve done, and not for the good. At this point, if our species is going to be able to continue to live here, we must change. And Nature needs to be our teacher. A big job! And kinda discouraging. Can we do it? Well, no one has it all on their shoulders. One person at a time, multiplied by millions, is powerful. So back to the original question: who will speak for the trees and rivers and prairies? We will!!