“Trees
offer us the solution to nearly every problem facing humanity today, from
defending against drug resistance to halting global temperature rise, and they
are eager to share those answers. They do so even when we can’t or won’t hear
them. We once knew how to listen. It is a skill we must remember.”
Diana
Beresford-Kroeger
Gifted with
an incredible memory since a very young age, soaking up the nectar of ancient
Celtic wisdom, Diana grew up with a love for the natural world and an
unquenchable curiosity to learn as much as she could about it.
How can I communicate the marvel of diving
into To Speak for the Trees?
If you feel rejuvenated and cheerful when you
immerse yourself in a forest, reading her words will be a unique experience, a
wellspring of inspiration and an invitation to learn more about trees and the
boreal forest.
Her book illuminates our spirit with hope, but
not the kind of hope based on empty words; it is the invigorating energy
underpinned by scientific knowledge and creative ideas to work together to
become part of the solution to the environmental crisis.
Did you know that pine trees produce an
atmospheric aerosol called pinene? The pinene molecules are easily absorbed by
the skin and the lungs, and they have shown to boost the human immune system
and to uplift the mood.
“The beneficial effects of a twenty-minute
pine forest walk will remain in the immune system’s memory for about thirty
days.”
The Druidic physicians considered the
evergreen pine essential to health, and they prescribed walking in pine forests
to support the health of the respiratory system. They called it “forest
bathing”.
Diana migrated to Canada from Ireland when her
research prospects were limited. In Canada she endured new challenges.
She was always motivated to learn about the
natural world and to share her knowledge and research. As a courageous
independent thinker, however, she was treated with derision and underestimated.
Tired of the biases against her, she left the academic system in the 1980s and
embarked on a new path of research. She
explains it well in these words: “I had the whole of my scientific
education, a baseline of knowledge and technique against which I could measure
and make sense of the things I observed. I had the freedom of being loosed from
institutions, the room to be myself and chased what caught my curiosity without
external interference. “
Her honest reflections resonate on many levels:
“I had the solitude and desperation of
existence on the margins, scary and sometimes painful emotions that have the
power to strip you down until you’re just your raw essence and nothing more. I
had my painter’s eye for beauty, which could draw me to a discovery just as
surely as the orderly thinking achieved by reason. And I had the ancient
knowledge of Lisheens and the view it had given me of nature as the sacred
source of everything that’s needed to sustain ourselves and the planet.”
Her love for trees led her to save several species.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist, medical biochemist, activist and author
of various books. Her research and work strive to influence the way we interact
with Nature.
She had settled with her husband in Ontario, Canada,
on a 160-acre area of land, where they planted trees and a vegetable garden; a
place they care for in partnership with nature, without the use of pesticides.
Diana
Beresford-Kroeger plays a vital role in the preservation of the boreal forest. She
empowers each and every one of us to do our part to support the health of the
planet and our own survival.
“From my childhood in Lisheens, I’d been
taught to freely share anything I was able to, especially my knowledge, and to
always look for ways to improve the world around me. I’d never had the money to engage in the type
of philanthropy favored by the Marias of the world. Instead, I gave back
through something called philanthropy of the mind, using my scientific
knowledge and all the energy I could muster to advocate for any worthy cause
that came through my door and to spread awareness of the issues nearest to my
heart.”
Diana’s scientific knowledge and ancient Celtic wisdom were augmented by
the teachings she absorbed from the indigenous people of Canada. To Speak
for the Trees unleashes the power of the mysterious world of trees.
The first part of the book is about her
childhood, youth, work and experiences interacting with Nature. The last few
chapters focus on various species of trees with interesting facts about them. (Some
of the trees included are elderberry, birch, blackhorn, aspen, oak and many
others).
Her
enthusiasm to understand the natural world is an endless endeavor that creates
ripples of transformation to support the planet and our survival.
She never gives up.
“There is never a day spent outside that
you don’t learn something. It might be something small, but that small thing
might also be a key to something very big. The discovery of those small things
and of the ways they connect to one another and ripple through the whole web of
life—that is one of the true beauties of nature. That is what I sought to
understand and cultivate.”
If I asked you to explain a way in which
trees support the health of the oceans, what would you say?
You will probably mention that forests absorb
a quarter of the amount of carbon dioxide generated by human beings. This is
how forests help to curb the acidification of oceans caused by the burning of fossil fuels. After
reading To Speak for the Trees, I should also tell you about a beneficial effect of Mother Trees I had never heard of before.
When the leaves of these trees fall in the
autumn, they contain high amounts of fulvic acid. As the leaves decompose in
the ground, the fulvic acid dissolves in the soil. Fulvic acid is rich in iron,
and when this form of iron is flushed out into the oceans through rivers and other
waterways, it helps to feed the phytoplankton, supporting the health of the
ocean ecosystems.
Everything in the planet is connected. Hence,
the effects of Mother Trees extend into the oceans. This is why when those
trees are cut down, fish die; ocean ecosystems are disrupted.
When Diana shares her childhood years, she
also offers interesting information about the Celts and their history.
The Celts were woodland people; their culture
was born from the deciduous rainforests that covered much of the country in the
past. In the penal years, the British
subjugated the Celts and destroyed these ancient forests with the purpose of
severing the ties of the Celts with the roots of their culture and language.
“During
the penal times, the Irish were not allowed to own trees or even certain
seeds—they were only allowed to grow potatoes for food.”
How can we listen to the trees?
Some people
are more attuned to trees than others. Celtic cultures believed in the
sentience of trees; many ancient cultures did too.
I
already wrote about ways through which trees communicate. However, I had never
read anything about infrasound or silent sound from trees until I read To
Speak for the Trees. These are sounds below the range of human hearing.
They travel great distances, and they are also produced by elephants to communicate.
How are trees related to these infrasounds? I
wonder about it. Science does not know, but some research is emerging about
sounds and plants:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7671032/
The mystery of trees… an endless exploration to observe, feel and ask questions.
There is a documentary she made called Call of the Forest.
You can also
learn more about Diana Beresford-Kroeger’s work by visiting her website.
If you
enjoyed this post, you may welcome my writing on the following books:
Butterflies: their natural history and diversity
Enjoy the offcial trailer of the documentary Call of the Forest:
