Written by Dave Tamblyn
Prince George
|
|
Tuesday, 02 December 2008 |
Related Items
No related items found
Fred McIntyre knows just enough about global warming and forest ecology to be dangerous. I'm no climate scientist either, but I am always suspicious of hand-waving solutions to complex problems. As journalist H. L. Mencken observed, "There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat, plausible, and wrong."
And yet I sense that there is something quite right in Mr. McIntyre's call to plant trees. It's not that a few million or billion trees will magically halt global climate change, but planting a tree (and I mean with shovel and watering can and preferably dirty hands) awakens something in us. What child has not experienced with awe the miracle of the bean sprout emerging from a cup of soil on the windowsill? Planting a tree may spark that inner child and reverence for the life force within that tree and within all of us.
Watching and caring for the growing tree cultivates, in us, the very sense of caring for the Earth that is at the heart of Mr. McIntyre's appeal. The act of caring is itself the seed of something greater - of love.
Father Thomas Berry, a cultural historian, geologist, and eco-theologian, argues that our primary and overarching duty to the Earth is: not to fill or subdue it, not even to manage or steward it, but rather, to love it.
So go ahead - plant a tree. Plant it deliberately and thoughtfully. Then care for it and try to treat it with love. By all means, plant it and care for it with your children and your grandchildren and your neighbours and your community.
I don't believe the trees themselves will save the planet, but our collective love and reverence for the Earth might. Love of the planet may be a necessary prerequisite for sustainable planetary health, and perhaps even for peace as well.
-- Dave Tamblyn
Prince George
 |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 December 2008 )
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
