Before moving on to an elderly beech to show how trees, like people, wrinkle as they age, he added, “Sometimes, pairs like this are so interconnected at the roots that when one tree dies, the other one dies, too.”
I’ll confess I get a physical copy of the NY Times delivered to me on weekends. I just like the feel of paper sometimes. I would have missed the Saturday profile of Peter Wohlleben, a forest ranger in Germany, if I hadn’t flipped through last Saturday’s issue. So, printed on a dead tree, which likely came from a commercial forest, I read a story that taught me a few things about trees.
Wohlleben has written a book that has become a bit of a sensation in Germany, topping the best-seller list. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate — Discoveries From a Secret World has invigorated a national conversation about forests and how Germans relate to them.
Presenting scientific research and his own observations in highly anthropomorphic terms, the matter-of-fact Mr. Wohlleben has delighted readers and talk-show audiences alike with the news — long known to biologists — that trees in the forest are social beings. They can count, learn and remember; nurse sick neighbors; warn each other of danger by sending electrical signals across a fungal network known as the “Wood Wide Web”; and, for reasons unknown, keep the ancient stumps of long-felled companions alive for centuries by feeding them a sugar solution through their roots.
That last bit was news to me. If it all sounds very Ent-like or Avatar-y to you, well you’re not alone, I’m right there with you.
Trees do compete for resources with each other, and the profile discusses how commercial forests generally space out trees to promote vigorous, quick growth. But that separation inhibits the social nature of trees, disconnecting them from their networks. That is probably not good for the long-term health of the forest, and indeed the individual trees. Their ability to support each other, communicate and some resilience is lost.
Intrigued, Mr. Wohlleben began investigating alternate approaches to forestry. Visiting a handful of private forests in Switzerland and Germany, he was impressed. “They had really thick, old trees,” he said. “They treated their forest much more lovingly, and the wood they produced was more valuable. In one forest, they said, when they wanted to buy a car, they cut two trees. For us, at the time, two trees would buy you a pizza.”
We have a lot of competition on DKos and within the Democratic party today. Like others, I’ve actively participated in it, and I will continue to. It is healthy, and it is good. It tests the vigor of our ideas against the tenor of our time.
And when this contest is over, we will have another conversation with a significant number of our fellow-citizens who will not support the Democratic candidate. Not everyone will have good intentions. Some of us may get carried away.
Let’s not lose sight of the forest for the trees.