Trees – article reading

A reading of my article – Trees

(c) K Wicks

A Giant Debate

Trees are quite a spectacular part of our ecosystem, and generally as a plant they have a great purpose and seem to under attack as much as the rest of nature. In my previous article about Trees, I mention just a few of the different types, two of which I have seen myself, the Banyan and the Baobab trees. But there is another I have also seen in person I realise I failed to mention, and that is the Giant Sequioa Forest in California. It really is a sight to behold, and makes you feel very tiny, although I was a child, so was pretty small at the time anyway, but they were epic.

There is talk though, of there being a time when things were much bigger, of Giants and megafauna and flora. Some of which has evidence showing it was once here or is available if you go looking, and some has been lost or is hidden if perhaps it raises what might be seen as ‘too many questions’. But occasionally there is something there to debate, or dismiss, depending on your viewpoint and reasoning. Devils Tower in Wyoming is a good example of this, where many people say it is evidence of a giant tree, and that is the remaining stump showing having been fossilised. Another theory is that it’s veins of what was once a living creature or animal or giant. And what the accepted theory says, is that it is natural rock formations from volcanic and tectonic activity around 40 million years ago. Either way, it looks a bit out of place on the landscape and sticks out enough to be a point of discussion. And whether it is remnants of a giant tree, creature or just volcanic, it shouldn’t dismiss from the idea that there was a time before of much larger things.

But it’s not just trees, or possible bones that people hold up as a reason for questioning. It’s the large buildings, doorways, measurements in travellers’ tales and old stories generally that seem literally riddled with ideas and mention of things we are taught to scoff at today. They say things get bigger with a higher cO2 level, so could it be that when it was warmer and greener, things were able to reach what we might call, their full potential? And currently we are perhaps in a stunted phase, and still in the ice-age in reality, or a cold period which keeps everything down. I have a few wonderings on what might have occurred in the past to keep things like that hidden, or not even hidden, just not taught, so they fade as common knowledge and become only for the few. To then wield or withhold later when needed, or perhaps they too forget and much gets lost altogether, with no-one to understand what they are looking at anymore they just ignore it or destroy it, and then time serves to bury it. As it will with all of us one day, but until that day the questions continue…

(c) K Wicks

Little trees 🌳

They are coming along. Season three for one of my cherries, and second season for what I think are more cherries and a plum tree. And first season for an apple tree.

I also saved an elderberry sprout which has established this year and looks healthy despite being overrun with aphids last year (as was the cherry). Those little ants really get on it with farming them, but despite looking weary at the end of last year, they’ve come back strong so far. It’s looking quite fruity in the garden too with the redcurrent, blueberry, gooseberry, loganberry and strawberry, although I misplaced the logan berry and it’s been overtaken by the buddleia. Maybe the little branch I planted last year will come through. We’ll see…

(c) K Wicks

New, but not better

It was a disappointing event and view left after as below. To some It may just appear as more ‘incompetence’, but mark my words, this is strategic and coordinated. Its just a few trees they say, a bit of countryside here and there they say. With lovely drawings and blueprints of a utopic society living happily in this new structured way. Except we bever get to the bit where its realised. They take the money, ruin the landscape, then say ‘oh no, we can’t continue, oh no something changed or went wrong. And you are left with no money, a ruined landscape which takes decades to regrow, and a much crappier existence than before.

This is what happened. And it might just seem like one small area, and just a few trees (over 100 mature trees!) But this is indicative of what they want everywhere. Devastating to the wildlife that would have been preparing for spring, and to the local residents who didn’t want this. Which is why it was done under the cover of darkness, swift and deliberate. So there could be no Opposition.

Plymouth

Can’t have trees in the way of cameras, microphones, signals and surveillance. A stark skyline is what they seem to like and are shooting for. Open and monitored, like a farm, where you can watch your cattle and keep them in their allotted areas or zones as we are being encouraged to call them. They call them 15-minute cities, which to me seems like a concept like School, but bigger. And following on from my other article Something new, but maybe not improved.

Trees create a network of nature, over our heads and beneath our feet. They provide ecosystems for a variety of organisms, insects, animals and plant life. They help to cool and provide shade, to provide oxygen, soak up CO2, help with water drainage and land stability, can provide food in abundance and self-seed. People perhaps underestimate the importance of them and what they do. And how damaging it is to keep removing them from our daily lives and routine. A concrete soulless wasteland is what seems to remain after, so we find ourselves fighting for nature as much as we seem to be fighting for ourselves…