THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES
“By this time the 1910 oaks were ten years old and taller than both him and me. They were an impressive sight. […]. When you remembered that it had all emerged from the hands and spirit of this one man, without technical aids, you saw that men could be as efficient as God in other things beside destruction.”
At a time when we are over consuming the earth’s resources, the young narrator’s reflection of Jean Giono’s allegorical tale, The Man Who Planted Trees, is a sobering reminder that humanity is equally capable of good as it is capable of evil. Written in post-war Europe, the tale tells the story of Elzéard Bouffier, a solitary, weathered man who spends his life reforesting hundreds of acres of arid land in the South of France, bringing back nature and life into a once desolate landscape.
“Ancient springs, fed by the rains and snows retained by the forest have started flowing again, and the water from them has been carefully channeled. Near every farm, amid groves of maple, the basins of fountains overflow on to carpets of cool mint. Villages have been gradually rebuilt. People from the plains, where land is expensive, have come and settled here, bringing with them youth and movement and the spirit of adventure.”
As he ends the story, the narrator highlights how Bouffier’s forest not only changed the landscape but also created an ecosystem beaming with life. The new dynamic forest ecosystem exemplifies how human life on earth is dictated by the availability of natural resources. From air to breathe, water to drink, and even fuel to burn, we are sustained on this planet by a fine ecological equilibrium.
Overstepping Ourselves
The earth has natural cycles that slowly regenerate the resources that we, humanity, deplete during our daily activities. The Global Footprint Network estimates that yesterday was Earth Overshoot Day. On August 1st 2018, humanity had consumed more than the earth’s capacity to regenerate resources for the entire year. Adjusting historical data to account for variations, it also estimates that Earth Overshoot Day fell on December 29th in 1970. In just fifty years, humanity has moved from consuming what the earth is capable of regenerating in one year to consuming almost double what the earth can provide every year.
Earth Overshoot Day serves as a graphical metric that allows the general public to visualize the unsustainable relationship humanity has with our planet. What is less tangible, is the actual state of our global ecosystems. Already in 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment highlighted that 60% of the world’s ecosystems are being degraded or used unsustainably to benefit human well-being and economic growth. Across the world the results of misuse are being felt this summer as heatwaves hit numerous Northern Hemisphere cities, breaking temperature records.
As we encroach further into the planet’s ability to regenerate its resources, Giono’s tale is an invitation to reflect on what we can do to emulate Bouffier’s acts. From activist like Wangari Maathai whose Green Belt Movement has planted over 51 million trees in Kenya since 1977, to everyday citizens adopting zero-waste lifestyles, going vegetarian, or contributing to rewilding initiatives, real regenerators are not lacking. It is your choice of life today that will determine if overshoot day will still exist in fifty more years.
