2/16: The wood-wide web

What trees can teach us about the common good

Reading

The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. (Laudato Si’, 2015, 13)

Reflection

The problem of our changing climate can only be solved through a scale of international cooperation probably never before seen among humans. It is the ultimate challenge facing our species: can we work out our differences for the sake of our mutual survival?

Sunlight shining through redwood trees at Muir National Monument

Nature has much to teach about cooperation. For example, there’s some great research describing the ways in which trees communicate to ensure mutual survival. Through what German forester Peter Wohlleben describes as a “wood-wide web” of underground root and fungal communication systems, trees send warnings to one another about pest attacks, share nutrients, protect their young, and even collaborate with other tree species. For example, as Treelogy describes in 5 Life Lessons — from a Tree:

Trees also look after each other in more thoughtful ways. For example in the summer broadleaf birches will send nutrients to evergreen firs which get overshadowed by other broadleaf trees, while in winter the fir repays the favour to the now leafless birch.

Why do they do this? Because trees know that a single tree on its own has less chance of survival than a tree in a forest. A forest or wood allows the right levels of light and humidity for maximum tree health.

We live in a culture which places enormous emphasis on individual success and self-sufficiency, views dependence as a sign of weakness, and places national interests above global realities and the common good. The ecology of trees suggests that dependence and mutual cooperation are anything but a weakness: they ensure life for all of us.

Fostering mutual cooperation to tackle the problem of climate change is a daunting task in a world mired in conflict. But, as Pope Francis reminds us, “The Creator does not abandon us”. God is intimately connected and involved in creation and through his Son has shown us that we do not face our challenges alone.

Question

1. What are examples of mutual cooperation and communication that I have observed in the natural world? What might these examples teach me about how I interact with others and the environment?
2. Pope Francis writes: “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.” What are ways in which I need to grow in order to live a life that closely reflects the value of the common good?

Prayer

Lord God, you sent your Son as a reminder
That we are not alone in the challenges we face in this world
Help us to work together as a human family in service to the common good
To ensure a healthy planet for our future.
Amen.

This post is a part of a 2018 Lenten reflection series on the environment drawing inspiration from Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si’. You can view this and other posts at the publication, Journeying Through Lent with Laudato Si’.

Drew Reynolds is a social worker, educator, and aspiring gardener living in Charlotte, NC.