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T R E E M A I N T E N A N C E
Restoration of
Sacred Mythology
by Terry Mock
“Look deep, deep into nature,
and you will understand everything.”
—Albert Einstein
The living world is governed by laws based on fractal geometry and size. Consider the architecture of modern trees—the woody strength that builds in ever-larger rings to support greater and greater height and weight, the protective bark that shields the cells that conduct water and nutrients from beneath the earth to the farthest leaves, and the collars of extra wood that surround the bases of each branch, and the way internal layers of wood dovetail at branch junctions to prevent breakage.
Dr. Alex Shigo has said that trees, as the largest organisms on the planet, are unique living systems because, “They have the capacity to add strength to their structure at exactly the most effective places. This capacity is built into their genetic code. As generating systems, they are always building in front of themselves. When any part of the structural framework is weakened to the point where survival is threatened, the new parts that form in new positions form in ways that add strength to the weakened place.”
Science has shown that plants vary in size by about 12 orders of magnitude, and a single individual sequoia spans nearly this entire range as it grows from a seedling to a mature tree. Size influences nearly all of the structural, functional and ecological characteristics of organisms and this fractal architecture provides conducting tubes that taper, and, consequently, the resistance and fluid flow per tube are independent of the total path length and plant size. This resolves the problem of resistance increasing with length, thereby allowing plants to evolve vertical architectures and explaining why the maximum height of trees is about 300 feet.
Ancient Roots
360 million years ago, the first modern tree, Archaeopteris, made up most of the forests across the earth. From cell details of slices of trunks, scientists can show that these ancient trees had lateral buds on their trunks and branches. As a long-lived perennial, it was the only plant at that time that could bud and continue growing after the main axis tip died.
Before they became extinct, Archaeopteris trees changed the world because they made up 90% of the forests during the last 15 million years, when plants were rapidly changing the earth’s atmosphere from perhaps 10% to 1% CO2 and from about 5% to 20% oxygen in the late Devonian period. As the dominant plant on the earth, Archaeopteris’ large canopy size, extensive leaf litter and deep root system were major factors in the global evolution of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Some people see only the tree, while others see a forest, but there was once a time that people saw a sacred fractal geometry of networks that helped mankind to understand patterns in growth, ecology and evolution throughout the living world.
Celtic Tree of Life
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Tree of Life
The mythology of The Tree of Life has been an important component in the evolution of nearly every culture. With its branches reaching into the sky, and roots deep in the soil, it is a link between heaven and the earth, uniting above and below.
In Jewish and Christian mythology, a tree sits at the center of both the heavenly and earthly Edens. Irish tradition supports continual evidence of Celtic tree worship. The Norse cosmic World Ash, Ygdrassil, has its roots in the underworld, while its branches support the abode of the gods. The Egyptian’s Holy Sycamore stood on the threshold of life and death, connecting the worlds.
To the Mayas, it is Yaxche whose branches support the heavens. It is the fruit of a tree that confers immortality in the Jewish creation story and in Taoist tradition, it is a divine peach. It is while meditating under a Bodhi tree that Buddha received his enlightenment. In Judeo-Christian mythology, the Tree of heaven is the source of the primordial rivers that water the earth which is similar to the Tooba Tree of the Koran, from whose roots spring milk, honey, and wine. The ancient Sumerian god Dammuzi was personified as a tree, as is the Hindu Brahman. In Jewish Kabbalah, the inverted tree represents the cosmic tree rooted in heaven, the branches manifesting creation.
In Native American mythology, The Tree of Peace white pine is prominent, and is an important element in the formation of United States democracy.
Trees and Human Civilization
Mesopotamian
Tree of Life
(earliest known symbol)
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Trees have also been the principal fuel and building material of almost every society for over 5,000 years and, to this day, trees still fulfill these roles for the majority of people who inhabit our planet. Without vast supplies of wood felled from forests, the great civilizations of Sumer, Assyria, Egypt, China, Knossos, Mycenae, Greece, Rome, Western Europe and North America would never have emerged. Wood, in fact, is the unsung hero of the technological revolution that has brought us from the stone age to the space age. According to John Perlin, author of A Forest Journey—The Role of Wood in the Development of Civilization:
“It may seem bold to assert wood’s crucial place in the evolution of civilization. But consider: throughout the ages trees have provided the material to make fire, the heat which has allowed our species to reshape the earth for its use. With heat from wood fires, relatively cold climates became inhabitable; inedible grains were changed into a major source of food; clay could be converted into pottery, serving as useful containers to store goods; people could extract metal from stone, revolutionizing the implements used in agriculture, crafts, and warfare; and builders could make durable construction materials such as brick, cement, lime, plaster, and tile for housing and storage facilities. Transportation would have been unthinkable without wood. Until the nineteenth century every ship was built from timber. Early steamships and railroad locomotives used wood as their fuel. Carts, chariots and wagons made of wood crossed wooden bridges; and railroad ties, of course, were wooden...Wood was the foundation upon which early societies were built.”
Human Alteration of the Global Environment
Original Forests
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Between one-third and one-half of the earth’s land surface has been transformed by human action; the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has increased by nearly 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution; more atmospheric nitrogen is fixed by humanity than by all natural terrestrial sources combined; more than half of all accessible surface fresh water is put to use by humanity; and about one-quarter of the bird species on Earth have been driven to extinction. By these and other standards, it is clear that we live on a human-dominated planet.
Today's Forests
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All organisms modify their environment, and humans are no exception. As the human population has grown and the power of technology has expanded, the scope and nature of this modification has changed drastically. Until recently, the term “human-dominated ecosystems” would have brought to mind images of agricultural fields or urban landscapes; now it applies to all of the earth. Many ecosystems are dominated directly by humanity, and no ecosystem on Earth’s surface is free of pervasive human influence.
Within the next 50 to 100 years, support and maintenance of an extended human family of 8 to 11 billion people will become increasingly difficult. In spite of admirable efforts by some to preserve endangered “pristine” habitat, humans have so monumentally interfered with the planet’s natural systems
that some scientists are now calling for us to stop focusing on the fewer and fewer remaining undisturbed ecosystems on Earth. Instead, they say we need to focus a lot more on the services nature provides and how to modify ecosystems to make sure they can continue to provide these services in a human-dominated world. It is hoped that with all our ingenuity, we will be able to build “designer ecosystems” and replicate the natural systems that have evolved over 4 billion years on this planet to build the very conditions necessary for life to exist. As far as we know, ours is the only planet in the entire universe to have accomplished this monumental task. From water filtration to climate stability and soil fertility, there is intelligence embedded in these natural systems that we are only just beginning to fathom. Unfortunately, the knowledge that we do have about ecosystem services is not now widely disseminated, and it is certainly not being acted upon.
For example, we have known for some time how to improve the quality of life in the urban ecosystem by using trees to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions, air pollution, and storm water runoff; reduce energy costs, crime, and medical bills; and enhance biodiversity. However, for urban trees to contribute positively to urban ecosystem sustainability, the urban forest as a whole must be sustainable. This means that a holistic approach incorporating state-of-the-art, green industry best management practices and comprehensive ecosystem management must be employed, and so far continuing declines in key urban ecosystem health indicators clearly show that we are losing the battle. A major reason for this is that all the scientific knowledge in the world won’t protect natural services unless the public understands that they are vital to our health and well being.
Restoring a Sense of the Sacred
“We have to recognize that every event and manifestation of nature is ‘design’, that to live within the laws of nature means to express our intention as an interdependent species, aware and grateful that we are at the mercy of sacred forces larger than ourselves, and that we obey these laws in order to honor the sacred in each other and in all things,” said William McDonough, international sustainability expert. “We must come to peace with and accept our place in the natural world.”
Beyond examining the ecological facts and historical record, the question of our cultural responsibility comes up in terms of identifying causes and seeking solutions for the precarious state of our world.
Who can provide an alternative vision of the future that a majority of people will embrace? Religion and science have rarely presented a united front, but there is mounting evidence that faith groups are finally beginning to seriously embrace sustainability. The benefits of cooperation between the two forces could manifest into profound positive impacts for the global environment.
Together, religion and science have the ability to create a new world view that restores The Tree of Life. This ancient icon of sustainability could once again be the lamp to guide the footsteps of mankind to equitably sustain all species, for all time. At long last, the often-repeated cycle of deforestation, and the temporary rise and inevitable fall of civilizations from
the dawn of human time, could be broken. The new restoration economy could replace the competitiveness of a scarce resource mindset with the cooperativeness of a limitless, sustainable resource paradigm.
“Civilizations stand or fall on the foundations of their metaphysics and cosmologies,” said Father Benjamin Teitebaum. “If the later are false, then such civilizations are built ‘upon sand’, and ultimately they will be unable to withstand the tumults of life.”
The Earth Restoration and Reforestation Alliance —
www.championtrees.org —
updated 5/4/2007
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