Sublime

mother trees that are about two hundred years old—the equivalent of forty-year-olds in human terms.

That means it is okay to use wood as long as trees are allowed to live in a way that is appropriate to their species.

billion trees, a quarter of its cover, in a generation.

When we rely deeply on other lives, there is urgency to protect them.

In total, a fifth of all animal and plant species—that’s about six thousand of the species we know about—depend on dead wood.

Now, the beech is an amazingly socially oriented tree, but only when it comes to its own kind. Beeches harass other species, such as oaks, to such an extent that they weaken. It all starts quite slowly and harmlessly when a jay buries a beechnut at the feet of a mighty oak. Because the jay has enough food cached away elsewhere, this beechnut lies u