Trees and forests teach many biological, metaphorical, and cultural lessons about life and its interconnectedness, but no more important ones than those about time and death. They are our ancestors and speak deeply to our future as they always have and will. If we constrain our sense of human exceptionalism and embrace more humility, we can get closer to them and listen to their messages just as our Indigenous kin have and continue to do.
As a species, we celebrate our narrative capabilities but if we see ourselves as semiotic communicators (using symbolic communication) then we sense the intelligence and spirit of trees and forests. The history of our attempts at "civilization" is written in our relationships with forests. We have abused trees and their fossilized essences (oil, coal, gas) to drive civilization beyond the civil and our species to the brink of extinction and others over it. Around the world, those with deeper roots in the source of life who are trying to protect the forests from modern evil deserve the gratitude of all living creatures and our support.
Dr. Whitehouse, an intergenerational, transdisciplinary performance artist speaking as Sylvanus, the Roman god of woodlands, fields, and flocks, will ask us to reflect on the wisdom of forests in order to imagine a healthier and flourishing future for all living and yet-to-be-born creatures.
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