KeepGreenGoing

Say you’ve been spending time with this girl. Casually, you know? Not purposefully; almost by accident. Maybe you work together. Maybe you know the same people. You trade quips at parties, standing near the punch. You bump into her at the library browsing young adult fiction.

At any rate, if her name came up in conversation, you’d have something nice to say. A little story to tell, or just a brief nod of recognition. Yeah, I know her. Seems cool.

Until.

Until one day, it hits you. When it does, it hits hard. A look. A glance. For no reason at all. You know what I mean? Love can be a funny thing.

That’s how it’s been with me and trees.

Blame a conversation I had the other day with a friend who, in addition to working as a financial consultant, is also a certified tree steward — a trained volunteer who spends much of his downtime caring for our nation’s forests.

In town from Chicago for a brief visit, he asked me about two very specific trees growing on campus at our shared alma mater. I shrugged. A tree’s a tree, hey? He shook his head no. He described them. The size. The history. His tone was hushed; reverent. He urged me to take a closer look. He lamented the deaths of several nearby oaks that had fallen to Japanese tree beatles but brightened as he began explaining how a forest — a real forest, a strong one — bounces back. How you can’t keep a good tree down.

All in all, it was a short talk. But, as we chatted, I started to get it. Trees are resilient. Resourceful. They might even be our salvation.

After all, a tree is, in many ways, a perfect system. Eco-revolutionary designers like William McDonough (previous post) have known this for some time. Recently, it’s a system they’ve begun to replicate.

So, what can we do to show some love? Check out PlantItForward.com for a whole host of easy-to-implement ideas. Maybe you have the time to volunteer with a community tree-planting group. If not, choosing paper over plastic at the grocery store is still as important as ever. And while you’re at the store, remember to check for wood and paper products that come from certified sustainable forests.

At the very least, just enjoy. That’s as important as anything. I took a short detour on my way home from work today to finally visit one of the trees on campus my friend had encouraged me to see. It was a black walnut. Huge. I laid a hand on its bark. I stood at its base and looked up through the branches. It’s beautiful.