EDITION VIII
TREES AU T U M N 2 0 2 0
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The Journal of the Academic Scholars of Oxford and Wimbledon High Schools
OWLS QUARTERLY, EDITION VIII, AUTUMN 2020 TREES Over the last year, we’ve developed a strong appreciation for nature and perhaps have never been more aware of the benefits to our well-being that come from the natural world. There’s certainly a sense of spirituality and numinosity about trees. From their appearance in myths and religion to the spectacular longevity of different species, to their ability to heal mind and body and to regulate ecosystems and the entire biosphere they are remarkable. They are an
enduring symbol of nations and identity, a source of inspiration for artists and musicians alike, and a means of commemoration whilst being, at the same time, part of our everyday, familiar neighbourhoods and gardens. When deciding on the theme for this year’s cohort of OWLS, trees were an obvious choice. We are delighted to see how wide-ranging students’ exploration of this theme has been and it is with great pleasure that we share these articles.
Editors OWLS Quarterly Ms Rachael Pallas-Brown (OHS) and Dr John Parsons (WHS) HAVE TREES BEEN SECRETLY SAVING US FROM PANDEMICS?.............................................................................. 3 TREES IN MYTHOLOGY.........................................................................................................................................................................4 IS THERE A FUTURE FOR NATURALLY SOURCED BREAST CANCER TREATMENT? .......................................... 5 WHAT SYMBOLISMS DO TREES HAVE IN CHINESE CULTURE? .. ............................................................................ 6 LIFE OF TREES: HOW THEY SUSTAIN A MILLENNIAL LIFE..................................................................................... 7 CHEMIS-TREE: THE IMPORTANT ROLE NATURE PLAYS IN MODERN MEDICINE.............................................. 8 HOW DOES THE TREE OF LANGUAGES HOLD UP IN 2020....................................................................................... 9 TREE SYMBOLISM IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S MRS DALLOWAY...................................................................................10 INCORPORATING TREES INTO ARCHITECTURE.....................................................................................................11 ROOTS. . ............................................................................................................................................................................14 HOW ARE TREES USED IN 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY ART. . ...................................................................................16 DOES MONEY ACTUALLY GROW ON TREES?............................................................................................................18 CAN TREES TEACH US ANYTHING?............................................................................................................................19 WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF TREES IN THE VIETNAM WAR? ................................................................................21 IS DARWIN’S TREE OF LIFE TRUTH OR A VISUAL TOOL FOR EVOLUTION? ......................................................22 WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM NATIVE AMERICANS’ USE OF TREES?. . ..................................................................23 HOW HAVE TREES SHAPED THE FORMATION OF LANGUAGE?. . ...........................................................................24 THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TREES, ART & CULTURE..........................................................................25 THE SEED FROM A TREE OR THE CURE TO GLOBAL THIRST?.............................................................................27 ‘THE GREAT GREEN WALL’ – HOW TREES ARE BEING USED TO COMBATE CLIMATE CHANGE.....................28 WHY DO TREES FEATURE SO OFTEN IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS? . . ...........................................................................29 HOW CAN MERGER TREES AND TECHNOLOGY BE USED TO MAP DARK MATTER?.........................................31 THE GERMANS’ LOVE OF TREES – DOES THIS STEM FROM LITERATURE?........................................................32 THE MEDICINAL USE OF TREES. . ................................................................................................................................33 IN WHAT WAY DOES THE DEPICION OF TREES IN IMAGIST POEMS HELP US TO FACE CLIMATE ISSUES TODAY?..35 SOWING THE SEEDS OF SUCCESS: HOW IS THE GREAT GREEN WALL INITIATIVE BENEFITING WOMEN?..36 WHERE DOES THE WORD ‘TREE’ COME FROM?......................................................................................................38
HAVE TREES BEEN SECRETLY SAVING US FROM PANDEMICS? Amy King (OHS) Hand sanitiser, soap, face masks. They are all obvious methods to stop the spread of a pandemic. But perhaps trees are the unseen heroes and by destroying them, we are putting ourselves at risk of future pandemics.
An initiative has been attempting to fertilise the Sahara region to combat the increasing deforestation. This continuing project was launched in 2007: a green Great Wall from Dakar to Djibouti.
The baobab trees are part of this anti-pandemic campaign. One by one, however, the oldest baobabs are worryingly dying.
As for the future, major international donors are financing a climate investment plan for the Sahara region (2020 -2025). In the meantime, however, Africa is still fighting its daily battle for every last pandemic fighting tree.
According to an article in Nature Plants in June 2018, “these mythical baobabs are dying by the thousands due, in part, to the drought between 1970 and 1990, which ravaged the Sahara.” In 2017, the world lost 40 football fields worth of trees every single minute. This mass destruction, known as deforestation, is largely thought to have been the reason for an unprecedented rise in droughts from Sao Paolo to the Sahara.
Bibliography Maillard, Mateo (2020). Making the Sahel Green Again. Paris: Le Monde McDonnell, Tim (2018). Why Are Some Of Africa’s Biggest Baobab Trees Dying Off? Washington, D.C: NPR
Models showed that savannahs faced 30% less evaporation than forests and similar reductions of rainfalls. This reduced water storage resulted in longer dry spells that led to drought and consequently, the death of the trees. However, forests with their higher evaporation rates have prevented complete aridity by storing their moisture to aid in cloud formation.
Seymour, F. (2018) Deforestation is Accelerating. Washington, D.C: Global Forest Watch Vidal, L via Le Monde (2020). Paris: IRD Zimmer, K. (2019). Deforestation is leading to more infectious diseases in humans. New York: National Geographic.
Laurent Vidal, a representative of the IRD in Mali fears that “in destroying much of the natural Sahel habitat and by causing its people to move, heatwaves and deforestation pose the risk of letting new diseases emerge”. In a country such as Senegal, scientists fear that the black rat, having lost its forest habitat, could be forced to eat cultures to survive at the risk of becoming a vector for pathogens to humans. Elsewhere, it’s the extension of the zones where the harmattan blows which has already widened the spread of the meningitis epidemic, notably in the Ivory Coast. It turns out that trees have been saving us from the spread of viruses for longer than expected, perhaps since day one. Infectious diseases, including the Nipah and Lassa viruses, transfer from wildlife into people in deforestation areas as the wildlife can no longer find easy food sources without the trees. The first emergence of Nipah virus in people was in 1997, killing 105 people by 1999 and it has since caused outbreaks across Southeast Asia. 3
TREES IN MYTHOLOGY
Hungary and Siberia. This folk tale from Hungary tells a story of a boy who sneaked into the king’s garden. He saw a massive and spectacular tree and thought he wanted to climb it. At the top of the tree, he found entire churches, castles, beautiful landscapes and everything he liked. This tale illustrates that people who lived a long time ago believed that trees had ethereal power and that they thought the trees acted like a bridge between a world like heaven and Earth.
Ashley Lee (WHS) Trees are important to people. We use products that are made of wood everyday which includes essentials like tissues and furniture. Even though trees are important in this sense, trees have always had other importance to humans. Trees have parts in a lot of mythical stories and this resulted in trees being used in fictions like Tree of Souls in the film ‘Avatar’. Today I will be writing about some trees in mythology.
In contrast with the sky-high tree, there is a tree that is said to only exist in the deepest corner of hell. It contains tremendously pungent fruit and it is given to damned souls who don’t have anything to eat. This tree is said to gain its energy to survive from the flames of the hottest hellfire. After the damned souls eat the fruit their heads fall off. As well as this, they are given a mixture of gurgling liquid. This causes their bodies to decay and melt. Then they are sent back to the raging fire of hell and forced to live in a loop of this agonising process forever.
Jubokko tree in Japan is an example of a tree in mythology. According to folklore, Jubokko tree looks just like any other tree but if you get closer to it you might be able to see branches that look like it is capable of grabbing things. It might also have human bones stacked up on the base of the tree. The Jubokko was not always like this. Jubokko was an ordinary tree until a seed of the tree landed on a pool of blood and grew on that spot. As the roots of the tree absorbed that blood, the tree became dangerous as it transformed into something unholy that did not belong to this world. From then on the tree snatched people up and killed them ruthlessly. This scary mythology is still widely remembered and scared by people in Japan even to this day.
2 Tree of zaquum In conclusion, trees are not only important in terms of resources but for our beliefs. I believe that because of trees in mythology and lessons they teach us, we behave in good manner and try not to do anything that harms the others. This helps our community to be more kind to each other.
1Jubokko tree The next tree in mythology is the sky-high tree. This type of myths exists in a lot of countries such as
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IS THERE A FUTURE FOR
has shown that Artemisia absinthium’s9 Artemisinin has anticancer effects on several breast cancer cell lines (e.g. HeLa). This composite inhibits cell growth; causes apoptosis; prevents cell migration and thus diminishes the risk of metastasis. Further research has illustrated that biological extracts from plants have better outcomes than when the compounds have been synthetically isolated10, suggesting that it is the synergy between plant components that inhibits cancer. Investigating the interactions between these different compounds is another way to develop targeted cancer drugs.
NATURALLY SOURCED BREAST CANCER TREATMENT? Rebecca Im (OHS) Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, with 55,176 cases3 between 2015 and 2017 alone. It is caused by mutations in oncogenes or tumour suppressor genes (e.g. BRCA14, TP53), which can either be inherited genetically or acquired sporadically during the patient’s lifetime. They can cause uncontrolled cell growth in the milk ducts or glands5, and if undiscovered or untreated, can develop into tumours which may metastasize (spreading to other areas of the body) further.
To answer the question, there certainly seems to be a future for breast cancer treatment sourced naturally. However, instead of directly using compounds from trees and plants as medicine, we should understand what structure causes these components to have these anticancer effects and replicate them synthetically. Ideally, these medications would inhibit cells with mutated genes specific to breast cancer (eg. BRCA1).
As such a common type of cancer, there are a plethora of treatments available that have significantly improved breast cancer patient care: surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, targeted therapy. Despite this progress, advanced metastasized breast cancer still remains untreatable. Historically in many cultures (e.g. Traditional Chinese Medicine), pharmacological agents sourced naturally have been used in cancer therapy. Returning to these elements to find new phytochemical compounds may provide new chemoprevention sources for the future. An example of a common anticancer agent is the naturally occurring Paclitaxel, originally isolated from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia). Paclitaxel is known to inhibit spindle microtubule dynamics6, which results in the inhibition of mitosis (cell division) of cancer cells and ultimate apoptosis (cell death). Despite its success, especially in destroying metastatic breast cancer cells, this treatment also has some negative drawbacks. Its nonselective nature results in healthy tissue also being destroyed during this treatment. Furthermore, Paclitaxel must be used in a solution of Cremophor and dehydrated ethanol7; both of which have toxic effects on the body, which means patients cannot be administered high doses of this drug. It is also important to consider the impact of harvesting trees for medicine. As Paclitaxel is found in the bark of Pacific yew trees, each time the bark is harvested, that tree is killed8. The slow growing nature of trees further emphasizes this financial and ecological cost; supply could never meet demand without synthetic manufacturing. Today, after several years of research, a synthetic form of Paclitaxel has been developed – Taxol. If we take time into consideration, plants are a quicker alternative that could be used therapeutically in breast cancer. Screening of fractionated natural compounds 5
WHAT SYMBOLISMS DO
the four seasons). These four ‘Gentlemen’ are not only found in art and Chinese literature, but also used to decorate houses or offices.
TREES HAVE IN CHINESE
Orchids (蘭) are seemingly quite fragile, but their soft, rather muted scent has bought them to symbolise elegance. Chrysanthemums (菊) are in their colourful bloom during autumn, which is when a lot of flowers fade. Due to this, they symbolise longevity and cleansing qualities.
CULTURE? Millie Bance (WHS) Although seemingly insignificant and mundane to our everyday life, trees, as well as humans, have unique qualities and characteristics of their own. Upon researching, I found that many species of flora each have their own traits that they symbolise, which have sprouted from their natural features. Digging deeper into what these trees represent, I found that these symbols are most known about in Chinese culture, especially in an artistic way. One of the main three trees is the pine tree (松樹). It symbolises longevity, endurance and a long life. Pine trees are often paired with peaches, deer and the god Sau (of longevity). The second is the bamboo tree (竹), which signifies resilience, youth and strength. These characteristics are due to its hollow centre, making it a very hardy type of tree.
Nong, J. (Qing Dynasty, 1636 - 1912). 梅花 [Plum Blossoms].
Finally, plum trees (梅子) stepped out to me as another one of the more significant tree species. It is meant to show bravery, hope and unafraid of difficulties. These qualities came about due to the fact the plum tree will usually blossom during the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar year, which is just at the end of winter. What is most interesting though, is the depiction of all of these three trees together in Chinese art. They are normally called the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ (寒三 友) due to the fact that they do not wilt, but rather flourish in the coldest season, unlike many plants. This ‘motif ’ is thought of as a good thing to send those who are poor or lonely, since the trio signifies resilience and hope even in the toughest of times. They were very common in old Chinese arts, first recorded in a poem by Zhu Qingyu, during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). Since then, this symbol has spread throughout Asia, to countries such as South Korea and Japan. For example, you may see these three trees on Japanese greeting cards celebrating the New Year or in one of Korean poet Kim Yuki’s poems.
Mengjian, Z. (Song Dynasty, 960 - 1279). 寒三友 [Three Friends of Winter]. Taipei: National Palace Museum Bibliography Chao, J. (2014). Tree Symbolism in Chinese Culture. Los Angeles: Industrial District Green Symbolism of Flowers, Fruits and Trees in Chinese Decoration and Decorative Arts. Nations Online The ‘’Four Gentlemen’’ in Chinese Painting (2017). Manchester: Manchester Confucius Institute
In addition to this very beautiful personification of the three companions that stick together and bear the brutalities of winter, or life, is another unique group called the ‘Four Gentlemen’ (花中四君子). This refers to not only the bamboo and plum tree, but also orchids and chrysanthemums. They became a big staple in Chinese art due to their refined beauty and range in moral character (each one symbolises one of
Nong, J. (Qing Dynasty, 1636 - 1912). 梅花 [Plum Blossoms].
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LIFE OF TREES: HOW THEY
per year has increased the rates of tree death. Trees have now become both a key tool as a carbon sink and a hindrance with their deaths14. We need to bring back the wonderful life and world that trees have created for us by making sure that their remarkable life process is not beaten down by disease or deforestation. It must be limited by the actions of governing bodies.
SUSTAIN A MILLENNIAL LIFE Alina Nishat (OHS) Trees are widely regarded as the pre-eminent symbol of growth, death, and rebirth across many cultures, with people fascinated by their ancient and majestic structures. The phrase ‘Tree of Life’ highlights that it supports all life and has always been there to do so. But how is it that trees, be it spiritually or physically, have supported life for so long? The oldest single tree in the world is 5062 years old, and the oldest clonal colony of Pando trees is a bewildering 80,000 years old! How do they live for so long?
Bibliography https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11094822_ Why_do_trees_live_so_long https://www.tanzania-experience.com/blog/acaciasclever-species-of-trees/ https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/groover/ psw_2017_groover001.pdf
During the process of aging, tissue repair in animals slows down over the years and thus organs become weaker due to senescence. However, plants are perpetually embryonic; this means that their cells can convert into any other type of cell by undergoing mitosis many times. This is essentially why plants can keep growing indeterminately11 and are ‘immortal’. However, there are external factors which pose a threat to their life, for which trees have a very good system in place.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ thousands-year-old-ginkgo-trees-genetic-elixirlife-180974004/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ article-7882543/Trees-live-CENTURIES-thanksimmune-protective-chemicals.html https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2018/1/23/ how-trees-fight-disease https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/11/ do_trees_die_of_old_age.
If a group of cells is diseased, the tree cannot ‘kill’ the pathogen but isolates it by forming a wall made of the outer cambium layer. This is why sometimes you will see dull, dead looking patches on a tree; they are the isolated patches of diseased cells. The tree then instantly starts a race against the disease to grow at a faster rate than the disease is (if it does, more layers of meristematic cells12 from the cambium strengthen the isolating wall).
https://www.usda.gov/media/pressreleases/2016/11/18/new-aerial-survey-identifiesmore-100-million-dead-trees-california https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2019/ Q3/invasive-pests-kill-so-many-trees-each-year,-itsequal-to-5-million-car-emissions.html Taylor, D.J, Green, N., Stout, G.W. (1997). Biological Science 1& 2. Cambridge: University Press
This is the basic system of all trees, but individual species have developed weird and wonderful defence systems of their own. One particularly interesting example is the Acacia tree. It releases a toxin called tannin when an animal, such as the giraffe, comes to eat it (this can be lethal). However, they also release the chemical ‘Ethelyn’ which travels up to 45m and subsequently ‘warns’ the other acacia trees. This chemical also attracts stinging ants, who form a rigorous bodyguard system for the trees!
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Eventually they stop growing taller as it becomes impossible for xylem tubes to transport water up so high, however they still continue to grow wider! 12
These are unspecified STEM-cell like cells used for mitosis.
13
Statistic recorded in 2016 from 2010.
14
Environmentally, the dead biomass contributes to carbon in the atmosphere. Socially, dead unsheltered trees are prone to forest fires and cause visual pollution.
Despite these defences, there are still so many trees dying. According to their biological capabilities, our carbon sink should be thriving. We know that tree felling is a major cause, with 15 billion trees cut down per year. Diseases from pests are also on the rise, particularly in places such as California, where 102 million beech trees13 died due to the Ips Beetle. However, ecologists are still seeing a shorter lifespan for trees growing in forests, for example. Although the evidence is not yet definitive, there is strong theory that the hotter summers and a disparity in the precipitation 7
CHEMIS-TREE:
cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. More recently, there has been growing evidence of aspirins chemo-preventative effect against colorectal cancer among other types and is now awaiting results of primary drug trials.
THE IMPORTANT ROLE NATURE PLAYS IN
Digitalis is a drug derived from Foxglove which is used to treat arrhythmia which is when there is a problem with the rhythm or rate of the heartbeat. It was discovered in 1775 by William Withering, a Scottish doctor who was seeking alternative treatment from a gypsy in which a herbal remedy included digitalis as the active ingredient. The drug works by slowing the heart rate but also increasing the intensity of muscle contractions, it is only effective in small doses. Digitalis is still used today to treat congestive heart failure and heart rhythm problems as well as increase blood flow and reduce swelling.
MODERN MEDICINE. Lottie Houghton (WHS) The discovery of penicillin has been proven to be pivotal in modern medicine, providing treatment for many infections caused by bacteria. The ancient Egyptians had the practice of applying mouldy bread to infected wounds, which indicated their primary knowledge that penicillin, although not named yet, had antibiotic healing powers. It was recognised as the first anti-biotic and named penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Fleming found that his mould was capable of killing a wide range of bacteria including streptococcus, meningococcus and diphtheria bacillus. Although Fleming never isolated and purified, without his discovery, many thousands of lives would not have been saved during World War 2, where the drug first started to be used, with the help of the American pharmaceutical companies which could produce the drug on a much larger scale. After the war, civilian demand for the new drug increased with more than 6.8 trillion units of penicillin being produced in the US in 1945. The acceleration of penicillin production was one of the most successful achievements of American chemists and chemical engineers, establishing the production of antibiotics and helping to create today’s pharmaceutical industry. So not only did the production and discovery of penicillin save hundreds of thousands of lives against bacterial infections, but also inspired a pharmaceutical movement into the isolation and synthesis of antibiotics hence its importance in modern medicine.
In conclusion trees and nature play a very pivotal role in modern medicine treating headaches, cancer, bacterial infections and heart diseases.
Aspirin’s discovery and use is one of the most important pharmacological achievements of the twentieth century. It was first used in modern medicine in 1897 but similarly to penicillin was recognised to have healing powers by Egyptians, Sumerians and later Greeks and Romans in which time was extracted from willow bark and used as an antipyretic and a painkiller. More recently, in 1763 Reverend Stone was one of the first who described their antipyretic effects and the medical research continued into the 19th century involving chemical synthesis and extraction. A chemist named Felix Hoffmann synthesized aspirin in 1897 and 70 years later the pharmacologist John Cane discovered its ability to allow the production of prostaglandins, which are a group of lipids made at sites of tissue damage or infection which control processes of inflammation, formation of blood clots, blood flow and the induction of labour. Aspirin was originally used as an antipyretic (to prevent or reduce fever) or anti-inflammatory drug, however it became very important in preventing 8
HOW DOES THE TREE OF
that the English word was too similar to ‘calculatrice’ (calculator) and it was necessary to choose a “proper French word” like ‘ordinateur’.
LANGUAGES HOLD UP IN 2020
Immigration bring food, music and words. Their children are exposed to multiple languages and cultures, much of which they share with their monolingual peers. This immigration is often a direct result of colonialisation. The British, Spanish, and French Empires all caused an influx of migrants from those empires to the countries responsible for colonizing, and others in the empire.
Ella Bosworth-Gerbino (OHS)
Another example can be found in music. Take French hip-hop. As with all hip-hop, this music is derived from Africa, in this instance, specifically the North. In France immigrants are expected to integrate and assimilate into French culture (intégration). Ironically, this requirement, caused the birth of French hip-hop. It is the two worlds combined, multi-lingual, multicultural. The music is a reflection on the artists and their experiences. Similarly many slang words are derived from Arabic, simultaneously as a result of the music, and parallel with it. Most of the time these words do not share their original meaning, but are altered to fit in with the French surrounding it. France is not the only place where this phenomenon occurs, it is the same all over the world. English has absorbed words from Jamaica, India, The Netherlands and more. This overlap of languages does not quite fit the tree metaphor. Are the branches overlapping and converging? Or perhaps it is more helpful to think of languages developing like flowers, pollinated from a range of sources. Maybe vines connect previously distinct parts of the tree. Whatever conceptual frame we choose, what is clear is that languages continue to evolve. It is for this reason that I find languages so fascinating
The growth and development of a language is often described through the metaphor of a large tree. Different languages are arranged on branches which attach to a single trunk, with Indo-European roots. A much smaller number spring from a separate tree of Uralic descent. The tree metaphor creates a fixed taxonomy of languages in which each one occupies a separate place on a branch. While they may share a trunk, they are presented as distinct outgrowths. In this piece I ask whether this metaphor still holds in a world characterised by mass immigration and popular culture in which geographically unrelated languages increasingly mix? To which branch do these words belong? To answer these questions, I will focus on the impact of the internet and immigration, both of which are changing our world in all sorts of ways.
Bibliography https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59665/ feast-your-eyes-beautiful-linguistic-familytree#:~:text=When%20linguists%20talk%20about%20 the,Swedish%2C%20Danish%2C%20Norwegian). Nilan, P., Fexia, C. (2006). Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds: Routledge
The internet introduces users to words from other countries thousands of miles away. I use Spanish among my English all the time even though I don’t really know anyone who speaks it. All my knowledge comes from streaming. I am not alone, Japanese words like emoji, anime and umami are all in regular use because of their popularity online. The internet has also required the development of a whole new specialised vocabulary, much of which has to be translated into different languages. For instance, in 1955, with the introduction of IBM’s computer, the Académie Française decided
Bauer, J. (2017). Transparent Language [online] Available from https://blogs.transparent.com/french/ the-origin-of-lordinateur-computers-in-french/ [Accessed 3 September 2020] Cheshire, J., Gardner-Chloros, P. (2018). Introduction: Multicultural youth vernaculars in Paris and Urban France, Journal of French Language Studies, 28, 161-164
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TREE SYMBOLISM IN
makes an almost super-human effort to do so (‘If he communicated? Would they let him off then, his tortures?’). Ultimately and unsurprisingly, Septimus fails to communicate the complexity of his mental state of his thoughts (‘Love, trees, there is no crime—what was his message’)by breaking out into a stammer which only serves to convince Bradshaw further of the need to impose his ‘cure’ on Septimus.
VIRGINIA WOOLF’S MRS DALLOWAY Eleanor Voak (OHS)
Failing to communicate with Bradshaw leads directly to Septimus’s suicide as the only way to escape ‘human nature’; as Bradshaw is coming to take him away, he throws himself out of a window, impaling himself on the spikes of the fence below. It is left to Clarissa Dalloway, whom Woolf saw as Septimus’s double and who is linked to him by tree symbolism (as are indeed many of the other characters), to have the final word on Septimus’s suicide: ‘A thing there was that mattered... This he preserved. Death was defiance.’
‘The supreme secret must be told to the Cabinet; first that trees are alive; next there is no crime; next love, universal love’. These words seem mad. And indeed their speaker, the shell-shocked First World War veteran, Septimus, is struggling with his post-war fragmented vision of the world and his war experiences, particularly the death of his very close friend, Evans. In 1925 Freudian analysis was in its infancy and shellshock (and its potential cures) were just about to be investigated. In Mrs Dalloway both the doctors who treat Septimus, Dr Holmes and Sir William Bradshaw, do not allow for Septimus’s efforts to come to terms with his repressed memories of the horrors of war. The former simply claims that ‘there was nothing the matter with him’ and that he needed to be grounded in reality, while the latter correctly diagnoses him with shell shock only to prescribe rest and plenty of food in one of his sequestered homes, isolated from all that makes life in any way meaningful to Septimus. Strikingly, Septimus sees Holmes and Bradshaw as the embodiments of what he, in his greatest anguish, calls ‘human nature’ (within the confines of a patriarchal and oppressive society) as opposed to a natural unity of humans and nature, metonymically represented by trees.
Bibliography David Bradshaw, The British Library: 20th century, Mrs Dalloway and the First World War https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/ mrs-dalloway-and-the-first-world-war# (Accessed 1 September 2020) Sabina Dosani, Madness, mind-doctors and Mrs Dalloway, Hektoen International, vol.10, Issue 4 - Fall 2018 https://hekint.org/2018/03/06/madness-minddoctor-mrs-dalloway/ (Accessed 28 August 2020) André Viola, `Buds on the Tree of Life`: A recurrent mythological imagine in Virginia Wool`s Mrs Dalloway, Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 20, No 2 - Winter 1996, 239-247
Septimus’s connection to trees allows him to access a world where he can potentially begin to heal: ‘leaves were alive; trees were alive. And the leaves being connected by millions of fibres with his own body... sounds made harmonies with premeditation...’, where he can see his wife as a ‘flowering tree’ providing ‘sanctuary’ and where he can finally start to come to terms with Evan`s death: ‘Evans sang from behind the tree...But no mud was on him; no wounds’, not suppressing his thoughts and feelings anymore. Septimus, himself, however, even in such moments feels bound to the norms of ‘science’ which Holmes and Bradshaw represent by feeling the need to justify this sense of connectedness scientifically, and ultimately therefore not managing to complete the process of healing.
https://www.jstor.org/ stable/3831479?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents (Accessed 26 August 2020) Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway, Penguin Edition, 1992
While Septimus and Rezia, Septimus’s hat-making wife, reach a state of mutual though unspoken understanding when they create a hat together just before Septimus’s suicide (‘he would wait in this warm place, when, because of...some arrangement of the trees...warmth lingers’), neither of them can escape the clutches of Sir William; though Septimus 10
INCORPORATING TREES
As time progressed, green architecture became a way to save the world, as opposed to just a way to tackle enemies. Awareness to climate change began in 1837 with Louis Agassiz and his theory on continental glaciation. In the 1960s, American youths then began to rebel against unrestricted urban growth and congestion rise, so architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright promoted green architectural ideas. Architects who designed and implemented the greenest methods were certified by the U.S. Green Building Council Builders (USGBC) under their green building rating system Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED). Although LEED was formed in 1994, it’s still in place today and ensures independent verification of environmentally friendly buildings. So, what does green architecture look like now? These days, green methods are becoming popular, for example: solar panels, roof gardens, moss walls and rain gardens. The Chêne Chapelle of AllouvilleBellefosse was built in the 1600s after lightning hollowed out a tree. Two chapels were carved inside and it’s now the oldest known tree in France at nearly 1000 years old.
INTO ARCHITECTURE Mika Tse (OHS) It is only natural that humans should be inspired by the environment. We can even see the influence of trees and nature on modern, urban cities; from the Sagrada Familia’s tree-like columns, to children playing in treehouses. Green architecture is becoming more common and it plays a huge part in world conservation. The concept of green architecture revolves around creating structures that use clean, renewable resources and generate their own energy to use water, lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation efficiently whilst being aware of its surroundings and natural climate. According to a 2016 report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 84 gigatonnes of oxygen could be saved by 2050 just by using renewable energy in buildings [1]. The European Commission also stated that €280 to €410 billion could be saved by taking worldwide energy efficiency measures [1]. Living architecture has been around for many years; one of the earliest examples are the vine bridges of West Iya Valley in Japan. It was built by growing Actinidia arguta and wisteria vines from one side of the river to the other and then woven in-between planks. Legend says that defeated Heike soldiers built them whilst fleeing from the Genji Clan in search of a safe home. The early bridges had no railings, so the instability of the bridge made it difficult for strangers to cross and it could be easily cut down to stop enemies crossing the river. People believe there could have been at least 13 bridges, but of the 3 remaining the biggest is the Iya Kazurabashi Bridge which can be visited and crossed today.
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One of the most impressive rooftop gardens is Japan’s ACROS building by Emilio Ambasz. With its 15 stepped terraces, it provides green spaces that are hard to come by in Fukuoka’s city.
Buddhist monks started the ‘100 Beer Bottles on the Wall’ campaign in efforts to reduce littering and pollution as they encouraged everyone to reuse and recycle by bring their empty beer bottles to build the temple. After finishing the temple, the monks went on to build murals, crematoriums, sleeping rooms and even toilets just using the beer bottles. Architect Vincent Callebaut reimagined what Paris may look like in 2050 calling it the ‘smart city’- a whole city of huge, futuristic, green buildings.
In Thailand, the Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew is built entirely of over 1.5 million beer bottles pushed into cement which covers every surface inside and out from floors to walls.
Though the future is uncertain, it seems like green architecture will continue to be an important part of the environment in which humans and nature will thrive.
12
Bibliography
Vallas, T., Courard, L., (2017), Using nature in architecture: Building a living house with mycelium and trees, Frontiers of Architectural Research, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S2095263517300353#s0005
[1] World Green Building Council, The benefits of green buildings, https://www.worldgbc.org/benefitsgreen-buildings Atlas Obscura, The Vine Bridges of Iya Valley, https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vine-bridgesjapan
Image Sources
Barnes, S., (2015), Architect Designs Paris of 2050 as Eco-Friendly Smart City,
https://nexttrip.info/article/3781/ https://theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles/indiasamazing-living-root-bridges-will-blow-your-mind/
https://mymodernmet.com/vincent-callebaut-parissmart-city/
http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/biodiesel-frommicroalgae/
Douglass, M., (2015), Nine incredible buildings inspired by nature, http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/ story/20150913-nine-incredible-buildings-inspired-bynature
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/this-thaitemple-built-using-millions-beer-bottles https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/buddhist-templesmade-from-recycled-glass-bottles
Honeyager, M., (2015), Green Architecture: Past, Present and Future, https://recyclenation. com/2015/06/green-architecture-past-present-andfuture/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ yjeanmundelsalle/2017/02/19/acros-fukuokaprefectural-international-hall-shows-how-japan-is-atthe-forefront-of-facade-greening/
Kader, M., Faggal, A., Ehab, A., Tracing History of the Green Architecture and Sustainability Movements, https://www.academia.edu/25524916/ Tracing_History_of_the_Green_Architecture_and_ Sustainability_Movements
https://mymodernmet.com/vincent-callebaut-parissmart-city/ https://www.normandythenandnow.com/theperculiar-chapel-of-allouville-bellefosse/
Mun-Delsalle, Y., (2017), ACROS Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall Shows How Japan Is at The Forefront of Façade Greening, https://www.forbes. com/sites/yjeanmundelsalle/2017/02/19/acrosfukuoka-prefectural-international-hall-shows-howjapan-is-at-the-forefront-of-facade-greening/ Murray-White, J., (2019), What is Green Architecture?, http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/what-greenarchitecture.html Ombellini, S., (2020), Green Architecture: What Makes a Structure a “Living Building”, https://ecobnb.com/ blog/2020/04/green-architecture-living-building/ Ragheb, A., El-Shimy, H., Ragheb, G., (2016), Green Architecture: A Concept of Sustainability, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S1877042815062552 Scientific American, (2009), Green Architecture: What Makes a Structure a “Living Building”?, https://www. scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talks-livingbuilding/ Unknown, (2014), The Peculiar Chapel of AllouvilleBellefosse, https://www.normandythenandnow.com/theperculiar-chapel-of-allouville-bellefosse/ 13
ROOTS
These ancient Proto-Indo-Europeans roamed the land in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, (present day Ukraine and southern Russia) 20 in a quest to find shelter and food, both fortunately abundant in the trees surrounding them, which we believed they named ‘deru’21. Interestingly, ‘deru’ had two meanings, it also meant true, as in upright or steady. The similarities between ‘tree’ and ‘true’ are many: not only are trees strong and steady, they are also reliable, year after year an orchard delivers a harvest of fruit, faithful and true.
Cara Hene (WHS) As of 2020, there are over 230,000 words defined in the Oxford Dictionary, each with their own unique journey; crossing borders, changing meanings countless times, growing, shrinking, as they make their way into the common vernacular used today, until their next inevitable transformation. The word “tree”, as we know it, is no different.
Then, ‘deru’ slowly but surely evolved into the ProtoGermanic ‘trewam’ - (spoken in 500 BC).22 ProtoGermanic is another theorised language; it was spoken by Northern Europeans and Southern Scandinavians during the Roman Republic.23
The dictionary definition of ‘tree’ is: “a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to a considerable height and bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground.” 15 It also has other specific definitions in botany, linguistics, computing and mathematics.
A map to show the approximate locations of IndoEuropean languages in contemporary Eurasia: 23
But where did this seemingly inconspicuous, monosyllabic word come from? Unlike other common words, it’s difficult to pinpoint its roots. “Tree” does not have any obvious roots in Greek or Latin (δέντρο, abror/bratus) and unlike other botanical words, it’s not intertwined with European languages: like ‘foliage’ its roots in Old French ‘feuille’ meaning leaf and similarly hedge, originating from the German ‘hecke’16. We therefore must delve much further to discover its true origins. The roots of the word “tree” are so ancient that they buried in a language that was spoken during the Bronze age, 6,000 years ago17, called Proto-Indo-European. This, in fact, not really a language at all, there are no written texts18, therefore linguists theorised what this language would have sounded like. These linguists draw on the assumption it was the ancestor to more modern Indo-European language groups such as Italic, Celtic and Germanic. Therefore, Proto-Indo-European is an almost hypothetical language, with each word being a well-informed guess as to how our ancestors may have conversed. Here is a diagram to show how influential Proto-Indo-European is on the development of languages worldwide: 19
Nearly 1000 years later, the word for ‘tree’ was little changed, and in 450 – 1150 AD25, Anglo-Saxons, who spoke in Old English, used not ‘trewam’, but trēow, to describe these tall majestic plants26. Importantly, it is during this period that the earliest example of ‘tree’, was recorded in a manuscript. Dated around 825 AD, Psalm 148 reads: “Muntas and alle hyllas, treo westemberu and alle cederbeamas” (“Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars”)27.
14
This is where it begins to become possible to prove, or at least try to prove the etymology of the word ‘tree’. Where earlier versions of ‘trēow’ were hypothesized, it’s only during this period that English-speakers started to preserve the language that they spoke.
Bibliography 15
Oxford Dictionary
16
Online Etymology Dictionary
17
Telling Tales in Proto-Indo-European, Eric Powell A.
18
Archaeology et al: an Indo-European Study, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, 2018 19
Slideshare.net
20
The Indo-European Homeland from linguistic and archaeological perspectives, annualreviews.org 21
Forest Words and where they came from - grammarphobia.com -
22
From Proto-Indo European to Proto-Germanic OUP, 2006, page 296 11
Andrew, 2000 The Role of Migration in the History of the Eurasian Steppe: Sedentry Civilisation v. “Barbarian” and Nomad Palgrave Macmillan. Page 117 23
Britannica.com
24
Baugh Albert, 1951, A History of the English Language. Pages 60-83, 110-130
The word for tree, and what was to become modernday English as a whole, slowly became more and more similar to the language we use today. Its next step took place at some point from the 12th to 16th century, when the island of Britain had been invaded by William Conquerer and the population began to speak what we now call Middle English, spellings differed during this period of time even more than they did in Old English28. There was no real uniform dictionary nor spelling conventions, yet more and more people were becoming literate, giving rise to “tre”, “treo”, “trew, “trow” all having the same meaning. Finally, after its long and arduous voyage, “tre”, “treo”, “trew and “trow” merged into the singular “tree” and its cousin, “true”. Despite there being a 6,000-year difference, having changed in meaning, been spoken by many different ethnic groups and in many different regions, it is still not that disimiliar to its humble root “deru”.
25
Online etymology dictionary
26
Forest Words and where they came from -grammarphobia.com
27
Burrow J. A,Thurville-Petre, Thorlac, 2005, A Book of Middle English, 3 ed, Blackwell page 23.
15
HOW ARE TREES USED IN 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY ART Chae Won Song (WIM) Trees have been included in art as far as human history goes back, whether it is a simple practice sketch or a deeply symbolic aspect of a piece. In modern times, new techniques and tools allow new ways for artists to explore strange ideas and ways of thinking. Enabling them to use trees in a new light. Roots, trunks, branches, or the entire tree can be simplified into shapes or kept detailed depending on what atmosphere the artist aspires to incorporate in their work, using the shapes of trees as a base for experimentation. Martin Boyce’s “Our Love is Like the Flowers…” imitates a park with trees in a minimalistic style made of glowing fluorescent tubes, creating an other-worldly feeling to them but also including a sense of loneliness or isolation due to the lack of leaves or additional branches.
Majesty (2006) – Tacita Dean There are many artists that use wood for sculptures as it is easier to use compared to metal and stone due to it being a softer medium. However, there are many instances where the tree itself is transformed through painting, carvings, or many other methods. Phillipa Lawrence’s “Bound V-57” has an ancient tree wrapped with bright felt, without chopping it down, to establish a connection between herself and the countryside.
Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours (2002) – Martin Boyce Contrasting to that, Tacita Dean’s “Majesty” is of a high-resolution photo of one of the oldest and largest oak trees in England that includes all the small details of the branches, trunk grooves and roots. This makes the tree seem grandiose and overwhelming in a sense, the absence of leaves giving it a haunting and dead look. Boyce and Dean focus on and use different features of a tree, Boyce condensing down the shapes of a park tree while Dean attempts to capture all the details of an ancient one, producing distinct pieces of work.
Bound V-57 – Phillipa Lawrence On the other hand, “The Hidden Life Within” by Giuseppe Penone is a tree trunk that has been hollowed out to showcase the original sapling underneath by using the tree’s rings, exposing a vulnerable side to the large tree trunk. Penone’s process carves into the trunk while Lawrence preserves the tree and its shape by wrapping it, showing the familiar and unusual ways trees can be used. 16
Burgess Park SE5, Planted 1983, Destroyed 1988 (1994) – Keith Coventry
The Hidden Life Within (2013) – Giuseppe Penone
To conclude, 20th and 21st century art has trees depicted in interesting ways due to the materials available today and unique perspectives, whether it is used as a medium or inspiration. This opens up new ways for artists to present meaning through their work through symbolism and cultural context.
The symbolism behind trees has been used many times to convey messages and meaning into art. In religious renaissance artwork different trees were used as visual language such as the oak trees representing Jesus while Chinese artworks had the pine tree represent ideas from Confucianism. Contemporary art is not excluded from this as artists use context as easy access information allows people to understand what the work’s message could be. Ai Weiwei’s sculpture “Tree” uses dry branches and roots that he has collected around southern China and mimics the form of a tree, commenting on the environmental damage and cultural erasure due to many areas turning urban in China.
Bibliography The Tate. Trees Coursework Guide - https://www.tate. org.uk/art/student-resource/exam-help/trees James Croak. Trees a Crowd - http://www.artnet.com/ magazineus/features/croak/trees-in-contemporaryart-1-31-12.asp Elena Nastyuk. The Tree as a Symbol in Art - https:// arthive.com/encyclopedia/123~The_tree_as_a_ symbol_in_art
Images “Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours”, “Majesty”, “Tree” & “Burgess Park SE5, Planted 1983, Destroyed 1988” image - https://www. tate.org.uk/art/student-resource/exam-help/trees “Bound V-57” image - http://www.artnet.com/ magazineus/features/croak/trees-in-contemporaryart-1-31-12_detail.asp?picnum=8 “The Hidden Life Within” image - https:// mymodernmet.com/guiseppe-penone-the-hidden-lifewithin/
Tree (2010) – Ai Weiwei Keith Coventry’s sculpture “Burgess Park SE5…” is a bronze cast of a young tree that has been snapped in half from vandalism. The sculpture represents how plans aiming for the ideal are unable to work out such as turning places into pleasant environments but being vandalised anyways. Both messages associated with the sculptures are vaguely connected to the symbolism trees hold although the context allows it to display it clearly. 17
DOES MONEY ACTUALLY
further. There are not only economic benefits, but in some societies, such as in parts of Indonesia, trees and wood have been used as currency on a local scale, allowing people to trade wood for farming animals, or clothes, encouraging economic movement in smaller villages, that may not have reliable national trading routes. Paper, furniture and fuel are just some other ways that trees have become so heavily relied on in people’s lives, with few other ways to substitute the valuable resources they produce.
GROW ON TREES? Alexia Platt (WHS) ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees’. A cliché I’m sure most people will have heard when they were younger; when there were no understanding of the true value of money. However, although overused now, is this cliché wrong – are there economic benefits of trees?
However, the rate that trees resources are exploited at is becoming too high. In the quest to become economically developed sustainability of forests has been forgotten, with tropical deforestation rates accounting for loss of biodiversity, reduction in carbon intakes and affecting further tree growth in surrounding areas as nutrients are removed.
As of 2020 there are approximately 3.04 trillion trees on the planet, made up of 60,065 different species. Uses vary from tangible products, such as paper or furniture to intangible services, such as the carbon cycle or retaining nutrients in biomass to aid farmers in growing crops. Over time, although the uses may have developed and changed, trees have always been a vital part of our economy, in ways that at first, may not be apparent.
There have been recent attempts, however, to preserve the trees, and in particular rainforests. In a recent study by Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, it was determined that rainforests store around 25% of Carbon Dioxide, with the Amazon alone strong 127 billion tons. To release these gases would heavily increase the enhanced greenhouse effect, changing the balance of the Earth’s ecosystems.
Let’s jump back in time. The year is 1690, and the global dominance of the British Empire is growing. In Britain, most of the population are in the primary sector of employment, particularly in agriculture, growing trees to help build houses, or to trade for an animal to increase income for the household. As timber and fruits were traded amongst farmers, incomes increased. However, as more villages were established, space that was previously forestland was cleared of trees, and the supply started to diminish. The navy (at the time, the biggest in the world) relied on the timber for their ships, to continue to expand their fleet, they had to travel further abroad. Ships then travelled to America, India, and Europe to gain resources, power, and valuable influence to create trading alliances that are still in place today. This extra money and resources gave Britain an advantage when the industrial revolution hit in 1760, allowing for a quick and smooth integration of the new, more efficient way of life that asserted Britain further as a global power and boosted the economy to a new extent. And all of this stemmed from the reliance and resources of trees, without which, the roots of our economy would not stand today.
Sustainable income from trees is becoming more apparent, particularly in countries where deforestation rates are highest. In Bangladesh, whose fuel industry relies on 81% wood, the logging industry have been encouraged to collect dead trees, wood waste and pruning rather than felling increased sections of forest. This will still allow for an income to be produced, whilst ensuring trees remain a present part of the ecosystem. Furthermore, as a society, there has been a global effort to move away from the use of wood entirely. Reusable energy, such as solar power, makes up 26% of the global energy used and is expected to rise to 45% by 2045. Although this means the usage of trees in the economy will decline, it allows for new income sources, such as eco-tourism that encourages more environmentally aware holidays; for example, Samasati lodge, Costa Rica. The lodge uses rainwater instead of transporting water through pipes, is built on stilts rather than the ground as not to disrupt run-off water to rivers and blends in with surroundings to ensure not to disturb local wildlife in attempts to make holidays more environmentally sustainable, whilst still taking economic advantages of trees.
However, as countries developed, the reliance on single resources and tangible products have decreased, particularly in AC’s in favour of services and jobs in tertiary and quaternary sectors, meaning agriculture (such as timber production) has steadily decreased.
‘Money doesn’t grow on trees’. Well, since 2016 in the UK, it hasn’t, when our bank note system changed from paper to plastic, showing the progression from a society that once relied on a single produce, to a new, man-made source. This well represents our economy today, and our declining reliance on trees, helping – once a vital part in building the roots of our economy, but soon, will become a thing of the past.
But trees still play a vital part in the growth of our economy today. In LIDC’s and EDC’s, such as Brazil, logging and mass production of wood has become part of the economy. Although the industry is environmentally frowned upon, it has an estimated worth of $200 billion annually, allowing many developing countries who produce this material to place money into developing infrastructure and technology 18
CAN TREES TEACH US
impulses. With research on the topic increasing, scientists certainly seem to think there is something we can learn from forestry.
ANYTHING?
A 2006 paper published in Trends in Plant Science proposed a new field of inquiry into plant signaling and behavior. The six authors argue that the sophisticated behaviors observed in plants cannot be completely explained by present genetic and biochemical mechanisms. They noted many ways plants did not fit with the present science on the matter, including that neurotransmitters such as serotonin, glutamate, and dopamine have been found in plants, although their role remains unclear. Here is a question unanswered, but the scientific community itself is divided. “‘Plant intelligence’ is a foolish distraction, not a new paradigm” writes Professor Slayman, but a distraction from what? Learning, whether a distraction from other learning or not, is still learning. Professor Mancuso would reply, saying it is our “fetishization” of neurons that limit us from appreciating what flora can do. Socrates learnt from “the men in the city”, from dialogue, from asking questions -- perhaps we view “learning” in the far too narrow field of “sentience”. We can learn in a manner more subtle than dialogue.
Georgia Jackson Jessel (OHS) Socrates, quoted in Plato’s Phaedrus, says “the trees in the countryside can teach me nothing”. We don’t know if this is Plato’s, or Socrates’ voice, still less do we know if the opinion was sincere; Socrates, through Plato, likes to explore ideas by challenging their validity, as well as holding that “some lies can be useful”. On the other hand, Socrates’ world was entirely urban; he had no experience or feeling for the countryside. Was he wrong? The sentiment certainly doesn’t chime with today’s fashionable enthusiasm to feel a part of the entire living world. But, while we can study trees, does that study actually tell us anything more than the physics of phloem – and does that expand the human horizon? We can certainly give trees a walk-on part in the drama of knowledge; trees provide forests of useful symbolism. This symbolism is even deep-rooted in our phraseology; we turn over new leaves, we branch out, our momentum is sapped. But, this is mere linguistics – a metaphor is not, by definition, an original thought.
At worst, this 500 million year old woodland mystery (and all knowledge, at one time, was a mystery, from magnetism to the nature of fire) at least teaches the arrogant human that there is something else he cannot yet explain, new dimensions of the unknown. That may seem a small contribution to learning - although the answers may have revolutionary repercussions.
What, then, of the cultural and religious significance of trees, when the Poles see the linden as protection against evil, and where for centuries in Europe it was a capital offence to cut one down? But all this teaches us is that people can be superstitious; teaching has no value if all we learn is the irrational.
After all, knowing how much we do not know is the beginning of wisdom. And Socrates, surely, was all for wisdom.
We can, however, challenge Socrates on the basis that he couldn’t have known what he was talking about, because he lacked omniscience. In fact he lacked most of science. And if the science in a tree can inform the science of the wider world, then even Socrates has to chalk it up as an advancement in learning. So perhaps the question is whether we can construct a sentence which says “scientists claim to have learnt xyz from their study of trees” where “xyz” represents an advancement in learning independent of the knowledge of trees themselves.
Bibliography Plato, Phaedrus. Translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff. From Plato: Complete Works, ed. by John M. Cooper. ISBN 0-87220-349-2 Lonergan.org. (2016). Greek Discovery Of Mind, Socrates, Notes. Lonergan Institute. http://lonergan. org/2016/06/05/greek-discovery-of-mind-socratesnotes/
Trees and plants have never garnered the same attention and respect as the study of animals, and there are vast areas of plant biology we do not understand - perhaps here we will find the “xyz” that we are looking for. As we research more, we can certainly learn something from the symbiotic nature of mycorrhizal fungi and tree roots, coined the “wood wide web” (as researched by professors such as Thomas Crowther and Suzzane Simard). This network somehow enables the mutually beneficial exchange of information about the availability of nutrients, warning about the existence of danger, and evolving compromises to avoid overcrowding through the interchange of electrical
Newman, C. (2017). What We Can Learn From Trees. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic. com/magazine/2017/03/wisdom-of-trees/ Popkin, G. (2019). ‘Wood Wide Web’—The Underground Network Of Microbes That Connects Trees—Mapped For First Time. Science Mag | The American Association for the Advancement in Science. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/woodwide-web-underground-network-microbes-connectstrees-mapped-first-time
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Marshall, C. (2019). ‘Wood Wide Web’ Tree Social Network Mapped. BBC News. https://www.bbc. co.uk/news/science-environment-48257315 Moyle, T. (2017). Why We Need A Better Philosophy Of Trees. The Conversation. https://theconversation. com/why-we-need-a-better-philosophy-of-trees-86966 Pollan, M. (2013). The Intelligent Plant. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/ magazine/2013/12/23/the-intelligent-plant Brenner, E., Stahlberg, R., Mancuso, S., Vivanco, J., Baluška, F. and Van Volkenburgh, E. (2006). Plant Neurobiology: An Integrated View Of Plant Signaling. Trends in Plant Science. https://www.cell.com/ trends/plant-science/fulltext/S1360-1385(06)001646?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.
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WHAT WAS THE IMPACT
The trees of Vietnam also guarded against the dropping of US bombs during their massive and unrelenting Rolling Thunder campaign. With Viet Cong troop movements shrouded by the trees, bomber pilots were forced to choose volume over precision. Moreover, the thick canopy rendered these bombs nearly useless as the shock of the blasts was absorbed by empty and uninhabited jungles.
OF TREES IN THE VIETNAM WAR? Kate McKeough (WHS) The Vietnam War of 1955-1975 was a clash of ideologies between the USSR-backed Communist North Vietnam and the USA-backed South Vietnam. It is seen as one of the most violent and expensive conflicts of the Cold War, with well over one million deaths at a cost of nearly $850 billion in 2019 dollars. The war was a crushing loss for the USA. While the guerrilla tactics used by the North Vietnamese army (also known as the Viet Cong) were widely credited for this defeat, the dense and unforgiving jungles of Vietnam also played a critical role in the war.
Frustrated American forces began using chemical weapons such as Agent Orange and napalm to burn and defoliate the jungle leaves and canopies that bombs couldn’t penetrate. After spraying 73 million litres of chemical agents between 1961 and 1971, the environmental effects are tragically still being felt today. US aircrafts targeted 4.5 million acres of jungle with herbicides, devastating ecosystems and habitats that are still recovering. Chemicals seeping into soil and groundwater severely affected tree growth and the overall ecosystem, polluting every aspect of Vietnam’s jungles. One of the biggest casualties was a 50% destruction of coastal mangroves, which naturally protected Vietnam from tsunami and typhoon damage.
Nearly half of Vietnam is covered in thick jungle – it is nearly impenetrable to those who are unexperienced in navigating it. Vietnam’s heavy cover of trees gave the Viet Cong troops an inherent advantage. The trees hid the Ho Chi Minh trail from American planes so the Viet Cong could transport food, medical supplies, and aid without constant air attacks. On the ground, the Viet Cong knew how to use the jungle cover for camouflage and laying traps. These traps led to unexpected and bloody setbacks for American soldiers, allowing the Viet Cong to gain and hold precious territory. As General William C. Westmoreland (the commander of US military forces in Vietnam) said in 1967, “We are fighting a war with no front lines, since the enemy hides among the people, in the jungles and mountains, and uses covertly border areas of neutral countries. One cannot measure [our] progress by lines on a map.”
Alongside the Viet Cong’s guerrilla warfare advantage, Vietnam’s trees played a critical role in the USA’s humiliating defeat. Because trees were a defining part of the Viet Cong arsenal during the war, war was waged against them. Beyond the war’s human tragedies, its environmental damage remains a lasting and painful legacy. Bibliography Brown, Ron. 1st Squad (1st Plt., C Co., 1/7, 1st Cav Div), , on Patrol. 1969. Buttinger, Joseph, and William J. Duiker. “Vietnam.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 17 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam. Ganzel, Bill. “Before and After Photograph of Vietnamese Jungle.” The Vietnam War and Rural America, 2007, livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50s/life_08.html. Harrington, John, and Grant Suneson. “What Were the 13 Most Expensive Wars in U.S. History?” USA Today, 13 June 2019, eu.usatoday.com/story/ money/2019/06/13/cost-of-war-13-most-expensive-warsin-us-history/39556983/. Meding, Jason von. “Agent Orange, Exposed: How U.S. Chemical Warfare in Vietnam Unleashed a SlowMoving Disaster.” The Conversation, 11 Aug. 2020, theconversation.com/agent-orange-exposed-how-u-schemical-warfare-in-vietnam-unleashed-a-slow-movingdisaster-84572. “Vietnam War Casualties.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Vietnam_War_casualties. 21
IS DARWIN’S TREE OF LIFE
growing their own branches and forcibly pushing weaker ones aside clearly demonstrates the theory of natural selection. Survival. Yet how the earth is made up and filled with the ‘dead and broken branches’ indicates how without these deemed failures, stronger and newer ones would not have the foundation to grow, and like how roots need soil to anchor themselves deep into.
TRUTH OR A VISUAL TOOL FOR EVOLUTION? Eva Wang (OHS)
Unfortunately, the idea of there being a tree of life where everything is related by evolutionary history is now seen as out dated. This is due to genetic tests showing that species used to cross breed much more than scientists (and evidently Darwin) originally believed. Therefore the branches between some organisms have been snapped and replaced by evolutionary pathways, resulting in a messier ‘web of life’.
Since the first known living single celled organism to now, evolution has shaped our nature and our nurture. Every single organism has descended from the same unicellular prokaryotes that under natural conditions changed enough to ensure that 1.5 billion years later more complex life would start to take lead (eukaryotes). 500 million years later the eukaryotes divide out into three distinct branches which each start to evolve separately as the start of animal, plant and fungal life. Hence the growth of a tree had begun.
Despite it being displeasing, the ideology of there being a tree of evolution is no longer what is seen as the scientific truth (if it initially ever was seen as that due to the lack of evidence). However can the origin of evolutionary science still be seen as a tree? Yes, as even if branches get cut and ‘artificial’ pathways are built along it, the trunk and roots of the kick-start to evolution still inevitably remain.
Evolution isn’t a subject that can only be understood through complicated timelines and in depth breakdowns of each and every organism’s growth through natural selection. Having the visual diagram of a tree helps highlight the nature of evolution, which proceeds to introduce us to the start of topics such as genetics and inheritance.
Bibliography
‘As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever-branching and beautiful ramifications.’ - Charles Darwin
David Penny, (2011), Darwin’s Theory of Descent with Modification, versus the Biblical Tree of Life [online], https://journals.plos. org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal. pbio.1001096#:~:text=The%20full%20quote%20 is%20%E2%80%9Cbuds,the%20surface%20with%20 its%20ever Charles Q.Choi (2017), How Did Multicellular Life Evolve? [online] https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/ how-did-multicellular-life-evolve/ Michael Marshall, (2009), Timeline: The evolution of life [online] https://www.newscientist.com/article/ dn17453-timeline-the-evolution-of-life/ (2012), Charles Darwin > Quotes > Quotable Quotes [online] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/604468the-affinities-of-all-the-beings-of-the-same-class Ian Sample, (2009), Evolution: Charles Darwin was wrong about the tree of life [online] https://www. theguardian.com/science/2009/jan/21/charlesdarwin-evolution-species-tree-life
By default, there is no denying that a tree is a very logical and straightforward tool to help visualise any idea related to links and direct relations between objects. Hence the same applies to evolution. Nonetheless, much of Darwin’s initial sketch looks more like a spider diagram than a tree. However the true concept and his later ideas connect each branch together, therefore bringing together the whole concept of there being a firm foundation, (or trunk) confirms that it can only be what he intended.
David Quamman, (2018), The Scientist Who Scrambled Darwin’s Tree of Life [online] https:// www.theguardian.com/science/2009/jan/21/charlesdarwin-evolution-species-tree-life Image https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Darwin_ Tree_1837.png
In relation to what he clarified himself regarding the ‘tree of life’, his idea of vigorous ‘fresh buds’ essentially 22
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM
One of the most recent strings of natural disasters has been an increase in wildfires seen throughout the northern and southern hemispheres, most notably in Australia and California. 600 years ago, pre the European colonialization of the Americas the natives would practice ‘controlled fire’. They would strategically burn forests in order to maintain the landscape. This custom was one of the reasons the Americas were seen as “untouched and pristine”. It changed the composition of the trees in the forest. Where modern day forests are mainly comprised of species that are shade tolerant, drought intolerant pyrophobes; native cultures encouraged the growth of trees with a higher tolerance to fire and drought. However, with European settlers becoming a more and more prevalent population in America this practice was diminished until in the 1940s with the introduction of ‘Smokey the bear’, policies surrounding the prevention of forest fires people began to revisit the utility of controlled fires and it was reinstated.
NATIVE AMERICANS’ USE OF TREES? Andrea Thordarson (WHS) “History is just new people making old mistakes” There’s a lot we can learn from the past. We often learn in school how history is about learning from our previous mistakes. From the widespread teachings of the atrocities of WW2 to the various miscalculations made by roman tacticians that led to the downfall of an empire; we are reminded of the vital role history plays in society. The climate crisis has been a particularly heavily debated topic, with an increase in natural disasters and pollution leading to world-wide protests. In our journey towards an amplified environmental conscientiousness perhaps it is time to look into cultures and civilisations that more successfully found a balance between give and take.
Although these specific examples would be nigh on impossible to emulate in modern day society where there is a far larger population and therefore far greater need for resources, the thinking of sustainability and the great respect of nature is a matter to be considered as something that should be found in the future of our societies. Bibliography “Native American Use of Fire in Ecosystems.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 June 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_use_of_fire_ in_ecosystems. Patterson, Susan. “What Native Americans Can Teach Us About Using Trees For Survival.” Off The Grid News, 2 May 2018, www.offthegridnews.com/extremesurvival/what-native-americans-can-teach-us-aboutusing-trees-for-survival/. Penn State. “Eastern Forests Shaped More by Native Americans’ Burning than Climate Change.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 21 May 2019, www. sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190521162443. htm.
One of the key features in native American cultures is their connection to nature and the Earth. Dissimilar to the European method of pillage and plunder, they maintain a deep respect for the land. Take for example the way in which they used trees. A great emphasis is placed on ensuring sustainability and finding ways to avoid simply cutting them down. Trees were an important source of food, medicine, tools, navigation as well as being central to religion and art. Needles of evergreens went into making tea, the pitch was chewed like gum as well as used as a sealant for bowls and baskets, nuts grew year round and acorns were used as flour. They created art in the form of totem poles that told their history, and in many tribes, trees carried a sacred importance. When they did need to cut down the trees, elaborate rituals were performed, and it was ensured there was always a consideration of the repercussions of their actions. 23
HOW HAVE TREES SHAPED
at the initial words which were likely viewed as most important for that civilisation. This shows how trees can hold relevance for countries all over the world, not just playing a part in agriculture and therefore the country’s culture but also in a way more directly rooted in the language itself.
THE FORMATION OF LANGUAGE? Rebecca Gill (OHS)
Bibliography
It is hard to pinpoint exactly what the first language ever used was, although some historians have theorised that languages such as Chinese were among the first few to be spoken, whilst Sumerian and Hieroglyphs are included as some of the first writing systems. Among these systems, many have changed as they were passed through generation to generation, in turn, altering each character or letter into a more abstract form. Originally, however, many languages featured pictographs such as in Mesopotamia. This consists of what looks like simplified drawings of the object being named, for instance a mountain may look like a peak shape or a human may look similar to a stick figure. It is simple to see how these symbols were chosen to represent each word if we look at them like this and it is interesting to see how they have been adapted.
Cunningham, G. (2013). The Sumerian Language. In The Sumerian World (pp. 119-134). Routledge. Xidong, Z. (2008). From the Chinese Character Xiu (休) to Mu (木). 励耘学刊 (言卷), (2), 15. Kenanidis, I., & Papakitsos, E. C. (2013). Yet another suggestion about the origins of the Sumerian language. International Journal of Linguistics, 5(5), 30. DeFrancis, J. (1986). The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. University of Hawaii Press. Rochberg, F. (2004). The heavenly writing: divination, horoscopy, and astronomy in Mesopotamian culture. Cambridge University Press. Allen, J. P. (2000). Middle Egyptian: an introduction to the language and culture of hieroglyphs. Cambridge University Press.
Languages are unique in that they continuously grow as time goes by, with new words being added to dictionaries every year. However, initially, words were largely created based on what people could see and the majority of new words were likely to be simple nouns. This, of course, would include something such as the word for ‘tree’ as these natural landforms would serve as a means for food, fuel as well as a building material for many generations. Due to this fact, in each language, the word for tree was created early on in the language’s history. This, in turn, has meant that other words created after the basic vocabulary was laid down and the language was beginning to be properly developed may stem from the word for tree in certain languages. For example, the Chinese character for tree is 木 (mù). The word for woods is 林. One can see that this character has been created by putting two 木 characters side by side to demonstrate the difference in size between a singular tree and a wood, therefore a plural noun has been created. The word is also commonly used as a family name. 森 is the character for forest, again another 木 has been added to the word for woods. These examples are very simple to understand due to the clear, proportional link between the size of the definition and the character difficulty. Other examples may require more thought to perceive. The character for tree is also used in perhaps more subtle ways for instance within the word 休息 (xiūxí) meaning to rest. A tree can provide shade with its branches, therefore creating an ideal space to rest under. This is but a few simple examples from only one language to showcase how a language has been formed by looking 24
THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP
own language through tree symbolism: in the West, Olive trees are labelled by Christians as a symbol of peace, while Cypress trees have been coined as symbols of death long before Christianity. The Palm is closely associated with salvation and Paradise and is typically painted into biblical scenes of the Entry into Jerusalem, such as this fresco painted by the renaissance artist Giotto.
BETWEEN TREES, ART & CULTURE Olivia Jin (OHS) The tree has been a common source of inspiration for most artists since the emergence of art itself, one that is visibly ingrained into our landscape due to their widespread distribution. Most paintings, across all styles, are likely to include a tree, and most artists have spent time studying how to reproduce a tree on paper. We have long perceived trees as symbols of life, regrowth and strength due to their seasonal death and re-emergence. A more conventional reason for influence of trees in art is because of their abundance - they are crucial for any art involving landscape and nature, and their complex appearance, difficult to transpose onto canvas, gives an opportunity to hone manual and observational skills. It could be seen that the history of the close relation between people, trees and art mostly arises from a deep emotional appreciation we have for trees, and their unexplained special meaning to us.
Entry into Jerusalem, Giotto (1305) There is a link between how trees are used as symbols of characteristics or values and their emotional presence within a piece of artwork – in particular, trees have a certain atmospheric quality that is explored through art. Significantly, Romantic art uses trees and nature for emotive purpose. The artist, Maxim Vorobiev, painted Oak Fractured by Lightning after the death of his wife. The imagery of the Oak being struck by lightning clearly symbolises the pain he felt upon his wife’s death.
Historically, trees have been harnessed as symbols since antiquity. The cyclic nature of a tree’s seasonal death and regrowth have presented them as symbols of resurrection; a common motif within many cultures’ mythology usually involves a ‘tree of life,’ or ‘world tree’ connecting the human world with the supernatural. This concept has contributed to the foundation for mythology and religion to emerge across civilisations, consequently, trees have become a focal point of religious and visual art. Famous paintings depicting a ‘tree of life’ include Gustav Klimt’s The Tree of Life, painted in 1905. The symbolic painting represents the relationship between heaven, earth and the underworld, with swirling branches tangled amongst one another expressing the complexity of life.
Maxim Vorobiev, Oak Fractured by Lightning (1842) While Romantic art was meant to capture emotive scenery in a dramatized light, traditional Japanese art promotes peace, harmony and spirituality; infamously, Japanese culture has always been closely linked to nature. The focus on nature in ancient paintings capture the traditional aesthetics of Japanese culture, reflecting the values shared by artists during the period. When Hasegawa Tohaku painted his Pine Trees, Japan was experiencing an artistic movement emphasising traditional simplicity and minimalism.
Gustav Klimt, The Tree of Life (1905) Myth and legend are closely linked to trees - sacred trees have an importance presence in many ancient myths, the subject of most ancient religious art and subsequent art periods such as renaissance and neoclassical art. It seems religion has created its very 25
Bibliography Russell, C. (1981). The Life Tree and the Death Tree. London: Taylor & Francis, Ltd Martin, L.H. (2016) Past Minds: Studies in Cognitive Historiography. New York: Routledge Fărcaş, C. & Cristea, V. & Farcas, S. & Ursu, T. & Roman, A. (2015). The Symbolism of Garden and Orchard Plants and their Representation in Paintings. Contribuţii Botanice. 50. 189-200.
Hasegawa Tohaku, Pine Trees left screen (1595) A famous example of an artist with a close relation to nature include the works of impressionist painter Van Gogh. He painted his Olive Trees series at the height of his illness, to find mental and emotional relief through reconnecting with nature. Van Gogh believed the growth cycle of an olive tree embodied the cycle of human life. Despite being generally dismissive of religion, Van Gogh found great meaning and spirituality while immersed in nature. Van Gogh’s later works demonstrate how a close spiritual link with nature can impact the emotions of an artist.
Pickvance, R. (1986) Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art Parkes, G & Loughnan, A. (2018) “Japanese Aesthetics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/ entries/japanese-aesthetics/> https://arthive.com/encyclopedia/123~The_tree_ as_a_symbol_in_art Images: https://www.gustav-klimt.com/The-Tree-Of-Life.jsp https://medium.com/@kevinshau/hasegawa-tohakuspine-trees-minimalism-and-art-in-warring-states-japan6763cd96baa7 https://www.wikiart.org/en/maxim-vorobiev/oakfractured-by-a-lightning-allegory-on-the-artist-s-wifedeath-1842 https://www.artway.eu/content. php?id=1121&lang=en&action=show https://www.vincentvangogh.org/landscape-with-olivetrees.jsp
Vincent Van Gogh, Landscape with Olive Trees (1889) The important cultural values we ascribe to different tree species across the world has inextricably been expressed through the art we create. This is still evident today, especially regarding environmental issues such as deforestation. Art is a common medium used for activism and the growing environmental movement has inspired a huge quantity of art, demonstrating how trees have also been used in art for political purposes. As art continues to evolve, one of the key influences on art of future generations may be the changing environment, and the greater prevalence of the preservation of trees and the natural world.
26
THE SEED FROM A TREE
Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) which is harmful to soil fauna, as high BOD liquids strip oxygen out of the soil. However using seeds from a tree is a much more sustainable water purification method as not only does the tree remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and excrete oxygen but the seeds can remove COD, chemical oxygen demand, when purifying water which means there is more supply of oxygen hence the degree of water pollution from the effluent would be less.
OR THE CURE TO GLOBAL THIRST? Katie Lorimer (WHS) A small seed, only 1cm in diameter, but it holds the roots to providing water for thousands. These seeds are obtained from the pods of the Moringa plant, native to Northern India. Moringa oleifera, also known as ‘drumstick tree’, is a rapid-growing, drought-resistant tree of the family Moringaceae. The seed can be used in a miraculous way to turn wastewater into a cleaner water suitable for drinking. The seed, when crushed, acts as a coagulant and is used as a water-soluble extract in suspension. It acts as a coagulant due to the positively charged, water-soluble proteins binding with the negatively charged impurities in the water enabling the clusters to be filtered out of the water resulting in an effective natural clarification agent for highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water at virtually no cost. The seeds also work on another level as an antimicrobial agent – the unprocessed seed powder may sediment over 90% of the bacteria from raw water.
Unfortunately, despite its life-sustaining potential, this low-cost water purification method from the Moringa plant is still not widely known. However, from small things come greatness and the key to solving the problem of global thirst could be held in a little seed. Bibliography
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ abs/pii/S0043135497002959 https://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2015/02/150224082920.htm https://www.scienceinschool.org/2011/issue18/ moringa https://ysjournal.com/the-effectiveness-ofthe-use-of-moringa-oleifera-seeds-in-theremoval-of-metal-based-contaminants-fromcontaminated-water/
In addition to improving drinkability of water, this technique reduces water turbidity making the result aesthetically as well as microbiologically more acceptable for human consumption. Demand for water Water is vital for survival. A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. But in an ever-developing world, the usage of water is rapidly increasing and therefore the demand for water across the globe is also increasing. This resource is however becoming very limited in its pure state due to many anthropogenic means of contamination which have arisen from the industrial apocalypse of the modern day. The need for a low-cost water purification method is yearning and the Moringa seeds purification method is not only a low-cost efficient water purification method for developing countries but also has lifesaving potential due to its rapid nature – the purification process takes 1-2 hours. Sustainability There is a broad interest in new, sustainable methods for water treatment. Many methods for waste management and treatment in rural and semi-urban parts of Africa are on-site septic tanks. Not only does this provide a breeding ground for waterborne diseases but it is also not sustainable. Septic tanks are not sustainable due to their effluent having a very high
27
‘THE GREAT GREEN WALL’
if the context of the areas involved was not taken into account.
– HOW TREES ARE BEING
The impact of trees in a geographical context to combat climate change is critical and should not be underestimated – however, the focus on trees as a solution should not take attention away from other solutions to the problem of a changing climate. The importance of social and political influence over projects such as ‘The Great Green Wall’ must be recognised for trees to really make a difference and to increase the likelihood of similar schemes being started up elsewhere in the world.
USED TO COMBATE CLIMATE CHANGE Jessica Bryce (WHS) Trees play an important role in our ecosystem, especially for combatting climate change, as they are a natural way of taking carbon dioxide (the compound with the highest impact on overall greenhouse gas effects) and producing valuable oxygen. A good example of this is ‘The Great Green Wall’ initiative in Africa, which has a strong political base with plenty of funding that is attempting to restore land which has lost its biodiversity and vegetation in 11 countries in the Sahel-Sahara Region. The need for this project has been made apparent in the huge decline in quality of arable land in Northern Africa, as well as the poor land management in that area. This has been caused by both human and natural factors, with over-farming, over-grazing and extreme weather contributing the most. The initiative hopes to help these areas achieve food security and improve quality of life and agricultural productivity by improving the quality of the soil, the reasoning behind planting a ‘belt’ of trees across the continent. The importance of trees can be seen in this project on both a local and global scale. At a local level, the trees will improve the quality of the soil by improving the nutrient cycle, which in turn improves crop yield, increasing the incomes of the 500 million people living on land undergoing desertification, hugely improving their quality of life. Due to the number of people affected by this, these local benefits will result in global benefits as well, increasing global food security as a human impact, and creating another large carbon sink as an environmental one. Many in the media have presented it as purely a treeplanting initiative, however trees and forests are only a part of the focus. The initiative is much more nuanced than this, the end goal is for a variety of different landscapes, not just a large forest, and beyond that the project would not succeed if not for the focus on social impacts. The countries involved have been provided with a $2bn budget, largely from the World Bank, to ensure they are all able to see the project through the whole way, and there is an integrated landscape approach which focuses on individual countries and what they need from the project for it to have the best results. For example, the improvements in land quality and economic opportunity in Mali may help curb terrorism in the country, caused by famine and poverty resulting in religious extremism. The trees are only a part of the solution and would not make a difference 28
WHY DO TREES FEATURE
manageable and something new can be even better than what they already had. This idea is reinforced by the fact that the lands at the top of the tree are everchanging and do not stay for long however the tree is constant, showing that although life can be turbulent it is important to stay grounded.
SO OFTEN IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS? Ruby Large (WHS) Literature has a vital role in development from a very young age. Books shape the people we become as soon as we are able to read or listen to them, and stories can be a useful tool in teaching morals to young children. Many writers use the symbol of trees or forests as a subtle way of embedding life lessons in a more accessible and memorable approach. ‘They’re an exciting, sometimes menacing symbol of the unknown; a reminder of realms both physical and spiritual that remain unexplored’1 and this can either be interpreted as untouched and inviting or in a didactic sense as something to be wary of.
A contrasting piece of children’s literature that uses the motif of trees and forests is ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. This is a tale dating back to 1697 and first written by Charles Perrault. However, there have been many adaptations, arguably the most famous being by the Brothers Grimm in the 1800s. This story features a young girl walking through the woods to visit her grandmother when she meets a wolf who tricks her into going off her trail against her instructions, dresses up as her grandmother and eats her. There is a clear message in this story – ‘don’t talk to strangers’ – and the intimidating and threatening setting of the woods is fitting as it warns children of the dangers of the unknown. It also serves to teach the importance of listening to advice given to them and not to be influenced by others as although they may seem helpful, they should not be trusted.
‘The Enchanted Wood’ series by Enid Blyton is an example of an author utilising the emblem of a tree to inspire younger generations to embrace the absurd and the exciting. In the stories, three children move away from their home to the countryside and find an enchanted tree at the top of which different magical lands pass. Although on the surface these books are simple tales about other-worldly characters and adventures that are experienced, they carry many morals throughout that are artfully hidden amongst the fairies and elves. Firstly, the book series encourages children to explore nature as a form of escapism and enjoy things that are fantastical that don’t always have to make sense. The stories are also based on moving away from their home, so it establishes that change is
In the words of Friedrich Froebel: “to climb a tree is for a child to discover a new world”. I think that this perfectly answers my question of why trees feature so often in children’s books – exploration and escapism are fundamental for children’s development and the motif of trees symbolises that as well as providing a necessary and healthy slight wariness of the unknown that they will take forward into adulthood. 29
Bibliography
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ articles/41RbVj62ZxV9LcysSlHPvg3/sixmagical-forests-we-love-from-children-s-books [2] Enchanted Wood image https://www.google.com/ url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon. co.uk%2FEnchanted-Wood-Gift-Magic-Faraw ay%2Fdp%2F1405296127&psig=AOvVaw1m Dt-xWJiHKKX9fVBsHtgp&ust=159594621872 0000&sou [3] Little Red Riding Hood image https://www.google.com/ url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcollections. artsmia.org%2Fart%2F9098%2Flittlered-riding-hood-arthurrackham&psig=AOvVaw0PR1QK2ltgmbRRlLP0UmX&ust=1593619995136000& source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCOjAh6H3qeoCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU
30
HOW CAN MERGER TREES
There are two ways in which scientists can grow a merger tree. The first way is to start at a high red shift (a long time ago) with dark matter particles and run the n-body simulation to see how halos merge and grow, mimicking what happens in the real universe. The other is to start with the halos that we can map in the current day using the gravitational effects on the outer regions of galaxies and work backwards.
AND TECHNOLOGY BE USED TO MAP DARK MATTER? Izzi Millar (OHS)
When astronomers have a full merger tree they can then expand and augment that tree by selecting one of the dark matter halos in it and creating more trees for that halo. If the progenitor halos that have been mapped in the new trees match the masses of the progenitor halos in the original tree then the two trees can then be integrated into a one bigger, more detailed tree.
Dark matter is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the universe today. In 1980, American astronomer Vera Rubin presented evidence that shows around 83% of the matter in the universe is made up of something that cannot be seen using a telescope. She proved this by showing that the outer regions of galaxies spin a lot faster than expected given the mass that can be calculated using visible light. Dark matter is a form of matter that doesn’t interact with the electromagnetic force, which means it doesn’t absorb heat or light, so the only way astronomers can detect it is through its interaction with gravity, making the outer parts of galaxies spin much faster. Dark matter forms in rings around galaxies and galaxy clusters, called dark matter halos, impacting the way the galaxies evolve and move.
Because such a large fraction of the matter in the universe is dark matter the way that dark matter halos merge has a large effect on how the galaxy within it forms. A halo of a certain mass could have multiple possible merging histories. Therefore, understanding halo development is important to fully understand galaxy evolution. N-body simulations and merger trees are by far the most accurate way to track dark matter halos but are still very expensive because of the massive number of calculations needed to run them. In the future, more technological advances should lead to the possibility of more detailed simulations, further improving our knowledge of the universe’s development.
Astronomers use n-body simulations to create merger trees to track halos. An n-body simulation is a computer program that simulates a large number of particles and how they interact with forces, usually gravity. In 2005 the Millennium simulation was run. This was an n-body simulation using more than 10 billion particles, showing the galaxy and dark matter distribution in a cubic region of the universe that was over 2 billion light years on each side. It took the principal supercomputer at the Max Planck Society’s Supercomputing Centre over a month to run.
Bibliography https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/d/dark+halo
A merger tree is a graph of circles, which represent halos, with the radius indicating mass. These circles are connected using dotted lines, which show the descendants and ascendants of each individual halo. They are constructed by taking information from n-body simulations, such as the Millennium simulation, to predict the masses of previous dark matter halos and the redshifts at which they merge.
http://coewww.rutgers.edu/www2/vizlab/node/84 https://wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/ virgo/millennium/ Benson, A.J., Cannella, C. & Cole, S. Achieving convergence in galaxy formation models by augmenting N-body merger trees. Comput. Astrophys. 3, 3 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40668-016-0016-3 Rachel S. Somerville, Tsafrir S. Kolatt, How to plant a merger tree, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 305, Issue 1, May 1999, Pages 1–14, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.13658711.1999.02154.x Mitton, J. (2017). The Astronomy Book. London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd. Image - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40668-016-0016-3
An example of a merger tree 31
THE GERMANS’ LOVE OF
of 184834, was used by many writers to express their social criticisms. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) and fellow writers of the time also embedded their political ideas in their lofty references to nature, thereby helping turn the German forests they loved into a symbol of national identity.
TREES – DOES THIS STEM FROM LITERATURE?
In most German fairy tales the sinister wood setting generates foreboding, representing superlative forces like immortality and endurance. Yet in poetry and other literature, trees symbolise hope and change, encouraging an eternal appreciation of these forests. This devotion, it seems, has been passed down over generations. Now all that’s left to do is take a Waldbad, and you’ll feel really German!
Caroline Young (WHS) The Germans are the world’s biggest tree-huggers. German ‘forest bathing’ (‘waldbaden’) is as popular as ever. And then there’s Ecosia, a booming search engine startup from Berlin, which plants trees with every search. But travel back in time and you’ll find that German literature is rife with Bäume - and this obsession stems from aminism, which evolved into treeworship back in ancient Europe. Sir James Frazer, in ‘The Golden Bough : A study in comparative religion’ (1890) relates the punishment for ordinary citizens should they dare to damage the bark of a standing tree. ‘The culprit’s navel was to be cut out and nailed to the part of the tree he had peeled, and he was to be driven round and round the tree till all his guts were wound about its trunk.29’ If that doesn’t illustrate the Germans’ dedication to their forests, I don’t know what will! This death penalty was intended to ‘replace the dead bark by a living substitute…the life of a man for a life of a tree.’
Source: The Golden Bough: A study in comparative religion, Sir James Frazer, 1890. URL: https:// en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Golden_Bough/The_ Worship_of_Trees 29
Source: DW, Love of the forests deeply rooted in German psyche, 2009. URL: https://www.dw.com/ en/love-for-the-forests-deeply-rooted-in-germanpsyche/a-3970648 30
Source: Culture Trip, 11 spots that inspired our German fairy tales, 2017. URL: https://theculturetrip. com/europe/germany/articles/11-spots-in-germanythat-inspired-our-famous-fairytales/ 31
The term ‘forest fascination’30 befits the role of trees in German culture. Fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, such as Hansel and Gretel (inspired by the Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, in Southwest Germany) use forests as the ideal setting for evil deeds. And when Snow White narrowly escapes being murdered by her step mother, she is abandoned to the forest, and embarks on a journey to the dwarves’ abode. The setting was inspired by the real 22-mile path around the Spessart mountain range, and these mountains are covered by one of the largest forests in Germany.31 Moreover, the innocent Little Red Riding Hood meets the Big Bad Wolf in a similar setting, starkly contrasting the safety of the village with the macabre, impenetrable forest teeming with wickedness.
Source: The origins of the Germans’ special relation to the forest, 2018. URL: https://www.dw.com/en/ the-origins-of-the-germans-special-relation-to-theforest/a-45613711 32
Source: Song, Joseph Von Eichendorff. URL: https:// www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/1121 33
Source: The forest nation: Why trees are at the heart of the German soul, 2019. URL: https:// www.deutschcentre.com/single-post/2019/08/11/ The-forest-nation-Why-trees-are-at-the-heart-of-theGerman-soul 34
Other German writers and poets, however, convey the woods in a different light, such as Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) in tribute to his birthplace, the Hanseland-Gretel Schwarzwald. In ‘Wandering: Notes and sketches’ he writes: ‘A longing to wonder tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening’, yearning ‘for a home, for a memory of the mother.’32 A century previously, Prussian poet Joseph Von Eichendorff expressed his emotional response to the woods in his poem ‘Song’ – ‘Gentle rustling in the treetops, little birds flying afar’…and mirroring Hesse, ‘tell me where my homeland lies.’33 Furthermore, poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) in ‘The book of hours’ frequently compares trees to both man and God - ‘I am sometimes like a tree…making real the dream of the one its living roots embrace,’ and ‘The branch of God’s tree… has already bloomed.’ The Vormärz’ (‘PreMarch’) movement, named after the March revolution 32
THE MEDICINAL USE OF
The yew tree has been revered both in Medicine and mythology for a long time. Although the whole of the yew tree is poisonous, with many deaths being associated with the ingestion of parts of the tree, the yew tree plays a very important role in modern day Medicine. The tree contains taxane alkaloids containing the chemical taxane. It has been discovered that this chemical can help to prevent the formation of new cancer cells, hence taxanes (docetaxel and paclitaxel etc) are used as cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs in the treatment of many types of cancer including breast, gynaecological, lung and prostate cancers. The fact that yew trees can both be used as a poison and a life-saving drug has caused the yew tree to be portrayed as the symbol of immortality as well as an ‘omen of doom’.
TREES Abigail Turner (OHS) Trees are thought to have existed on Earth for approximately 370 million years (8% of the Earth’s life), compared to Homo sapiens presence for only the last 200,000 years (0.004% of the Earth’s life). Available documentation suggests trees have been used medicinally for at least 3% of this human existence but may be much longer.
Aspirin is an example of a well-known and frequently used drug derived from the chemical salicin, found in willow bark. It has been used as far back as 3000BC by ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, in the form of willow bark to reduce inflammation and pain. In the modern era, aspirin was often used as a first-line pain killer for example for ailments such as headaches and toothaches. In the last century its properties as a blood thinner were discovered, taken daily in small doses to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. In the last decade evidence for a role of aspirin in preventing bowel cancer has also been found.
The cinchona tree was first used to treat fevers over 400 years ago. However, it was not until 1820 when a compound called quinine was first isolated from the bark of the tree by two French chemists. Now, quinine is widely known and used as an antimalarial drug. An infected mosquito, which acts as a vector, bites the host and malarial parasites enter the host. These parasites live in the body tissues. When ingested, quinine has the ability to kill the malarial parasites, which are living inside red blood cells. However, it may be toxic in high doses and an additional drug is required to kill any malarial parasites which are living inside other body tissues. Trees already make up a significant number of the 50,000 plant species which are currently used medicinally. However, it is thought that in the Amazon rainforest alone, there might be approximately 4000 undiscovered tree species so that, in the future, thousands of new tree-based medicinal products might emerge. Some may already be being used regularly by indigenous populations. 33
Bibliography
Woodland Trust. (n.d.). Yew. <https://www. woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/britishtrees/a-z-of-british-trees/yew/>
Achan, J., et al. (2011). Quinine, an old anti-malarial drug in a modern world: role in the treatment of malaria. Malar J. 2011; 10: 144.
Images
Connelly, D. (2014). A history of aspirin. <https:// www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-andanalysis/infographics/a-history-of-aspirin/20066661. article?firstPass=false>
Deep Green Permaculture. (n.d.). Home Made Plant Rooting Hormone – Willow Water. <https:// deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/homemade-plant-rooting-hormone-willow-water/>
Gachelin, G., et al. (2017). Evaluating Cinchona bark and quinine for treating and preventing malaria. J R Soc Med. 2017 Jan; 110(1): 31–40.
Britannica. (n.d.). Cinchona. <https://www.britannica. com/plant/Cinchona> Tree of the Year. (n.d.). Witch’s Yew Tree. <https:// www.treeoftheyear.org/Stromy/Carodejny-tis>
Global Trees Campaign. (n.d.). Medicine. <https:// globaltrees.org/threatened-trees/tree-values/ medicinal/> King, B.J. (2012). For How Long Have We Been Human? <https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/resourcelibrary-age-earth/?q=&page=1&per_page=25> Lee, M.R. (1998). The Yew Tree (Taxus Baccata) in mythology and medicine. Proc. R. Coll. Physicians Edinb. 1998; 28:569-575 National Geographic. (n.d.). Age of the Earth. <https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/resourcelibrary-age-earth/?q=&page=1&per_page=25> National Trust. (n.d.). Yew trees helping to fight cancer. <https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/yew-treeshelping-to-fight-cancer> NHS. (2018). Aspirin for pain relief. <https://www.nhs. uk/medicines/aspirin-for-pain-relief/> NHS. (2018). Low-dose aspirin. <https://www.nhs.uk/ medicines/low-dose-aspirin/> Normile, D. (2017). The world’s first trees grew by splitting their guts. <https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/worlds-first-trees-grew-splitting-their-guts> Petrovska, B.B. (2012). Historical review of medicinal plants’ usage. Pharmacogn Rev. 2012 Jan-Jun; 6(11): 1–5 Raphael, J. (2016). Amazon Rain Forests Still Hiding About 4,000 Undiscovered Trees, Will Take About 3 More Centuries to Describe Them All. <https://www. natureworldnews.com/articles/25281/20160715/ amazon-rain-forests-still-hiding-4-000-undiscoveredtrees-will.htm> Rothwell, P.M. et al. (2010). Long-term effect of aspirin on colorectal cancer incidence and mortality: 20-year follow-up of five randomised trials. Lancet. 2010 Nov 20;376(9754):1741-50. WebMD. (n.d.). Quinine Sulfate. <https://www. webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-869/quinine-oral/details> 34
IN WHAT WAY DOES THE
of the present day. Although the sky is ‘among the shufflings/of the distant/cloud-rifts’, there are delicate connections between trees, the atmosphere and, consequently, weather patterns and temperatures. The personal sense that this unremarkable, ‘already-writtenof ’ tree, can help the sky be so blue, ‘vaporously’ or effortlessly is particularly powerful. The final simplicity of describing ‘the unmoving/blue’, reminds us how much trees impact the nature of our planet’s atmosphere.
DEPICION OF TREES IN IMAGIST POEMS HELP US TO FACE CLIMATE ISSUES TODAY?
H.D.’s passion in Sheltered Garden suggests the possible consequences of human interference with nature. The desperation of ‘I have had enough’ resonates with today’s climate emergency. H.D. compares the garden’s ‘border on border of scented pinks’ with the ‘wind-tortured place’ that feels alive and naturally beautiful and draws a parallel theme of ‘beauty without strength’ between the softness of the garden and the urbanisation of our planet which has caused serious environmental issues. One can be reminded of the magic created by the ‘sharp swish of a branch’ or ‘taste of bark’, the wonder of wild trees. The possible consequences of climate change are outlined with ‘half-trees, torn, twisted/but showing the fight was valiant’, encapsulating today’s desperation to save our planet and the power of what we face. H.D. laments ‘O to blot out this garden/to forget’, mirroring the hope that we could reverse the damage, though it is possible that we have passed too many tipping points.
Lizzie Caird (OHS) With the possibility of global temperature increases of up to 4.5°C, our planet is faced with a series of existential climate issues. To understand the significance of trees in our landscapes, the snapshots created by imagist poets, including H.D. (1886-1961) and William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), explore trees from a variety of aspects, conveying the prominence of these incredible plants on Earth. H.D’s Oread is a metaphorical juxtaposition of the complex landscapes of ocean and forest that rely on each other to function. The alliteration of ‘pointed pines’ emphasises the importance of trees in supporting oceans. ‘Pools of fir’ remind us that trees can prevent rising sea levels, whilst the strength of ‘whirl’ and ‘hurl’ displays the protective power of nature. Today, Indonesia’s Demak District illustrates ‘your great pines on our rocks’ as mangrove forests have been introduced along 20km of coast to reverse 6km of submerged coastline. H.D conveys the relationship between trees and ocean providing a contemporary solution to one of the most impending climate issues. Oread is a passionate plea to ‘hurl your green over us’, thus H.D. beseeches trees to cover the world like the sea. H.D.’s longing for reforestation inspires us at a time when we are losing 8 million hectares of our precious forests every year.
Thus, the detailed description of trees in these imagist poems highlights the importance of trees, reflecting the solutions to climate change and helping us to face the current issues with hope and a wider understanding. Bibliography ∙Williams, W.C. (1933). Poetry Magazine, Volume XLIII, Number I (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=20221) ∙Doolittle, H. (1916). Sea Garden. London: Constable ∙Doolittle, H (1914). BLAST Magazine ∙Royal Geographical Society, Geographical Magazine May 2020 ∙greatgreenwall.org [online] Available from: https:// www.greatgreenwall.org/about-great-green-wall [Accessed on 4 September 2020] ∙poetryfoundation.org [online] Available from: https:// www.poetryfoundation.org/ [Accessed on 4 September 2020]
William Carlos William’s Tree and Sky points us to the urgent need for carbon sinks to stabilise CO2 levels in Earth’s atmosphere. Although Williams’ ‘tree stands alone’, the Great Green Wall project in Africa’s Sahel region magnifies this concept in aiming to plant 11 million trees to prevent desertification, by reducing soil erosion through interception, and acting as an 8,000km long carbon sink. His tree is ‘half-broken’, emphasising the vulnerability of trees, mirrored with the threats
Image Sources [1] Pictorial Press Ltd./Alamy Stock Photo on Poetry Foundation [2] Royal Geographical Society, Geographical Magazine May 2020 [3] Great Green Wall 35
SOWING THE SEEDS OF
now have more time and domestic stability to receive an education or run a successful business, rather than walking for hours each day to collect scarce water. In turn, higher levels of education amongst women equates to greater environmental awareness and understanding of the benefits of planting trees, leading to more widespread commitment to the project, as attested by Davies: “While it would be risky to blame environmental degradation solely on poverty, it nevertheless seems plausible that investing in female literacy and other aspects of human development could contribute to mitigating environmental degradation.”39
SUCCESS: HOW IS THE GREAT GREEN WALL INITIATIVE BENEFITING WOMEN? Leila Branfoot (OHS)
But arguably the most significant impact of the Great Green Wall is how it has given communities a common purpose and empowered women. Now on the front line in the fight against climate change, women’s social status is enhanced, taking a positive step to improve gender equity in the Sahel.
In the community garden outside Widou village, Senegal, the women of the traditionally nomadic Peuhl tribe talk and laugh together as they tend tree saplings and a variety of produce, from cabbages to watermelons. Some they eat themselves, a blessing given the 30-mile trek they formerly had to reach the nearest market, whilst the surplus is sold, creating dividends for the women’s hard work.
Although the Great Green Wall remains a long way from completion - just 15% of the wall has been planted40 - and lack of investment, corruption and conflict continue to impede it, the African Union’s initiative has undeniably been a game-changer for women.
The transformation of these Senegalese women’s lives is a consequence of the Great Green Wall initiative. Launched in 2007 by the African Union, this ambitious project aims to restore fertility to 100 million hectares35 of the semi-arid Sahel region by planting trees along an 8000 kilometre long stretch of land degraded by climate change-driven desertification. By 2020 in Senegal alone, 11.4 million trees had been planted and 25 000 hectares of degraded land rejuvenated36. Yet the Great Green Wall is not only environmentally transformative but is a powerful symbol of hope for women of the Sahel, long deprived of education and opportunity. The initiative aims to provide 10 million jobs37 within small-scale projects, offering economic security for the region’s women. Many are employed planting trees whose products can be harvested and sold: arabic gum from the acacia is commonly used in food and pharmaceuticals. Community gardens like in Widou present entrepreneurial opportunity through the sale of fruit and vegetables at markets, and profit made often supplies women with microfinance loans to fund other business ventures, to be repaid over five months with an interest rate of 10%.38
As the Senegalese women sing while they nurture their gardens: “We don’t need to ask anyone for anything now that we have the Great Green Wall. It will lead us, we won’t be afraid - we will be full of courage.”
The Great Green Wall is improving food and water security for Sahelian communities through enhanced soil fertility and water retention. Women and girls 36
Bibliography BBC News World Service, Africa’s Great Green Wall (podcast), https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ w3cstxnf accessed 28 August 2020 Davies, J. (2017). Biodiversity and the Great Green Wall: managing nature for sustainable development in the Sahel. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: IUCN. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.CH.2017.10.en accessed 27 August 2020. The Guardian, Senegal begins planting the Great Green Wall against climate change, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/ jul/12/senegal-great-green-wall#:~:text=Two%20 million%20trees%20are%20planted,with%20 animal%20manure%20for%20fertiliser.&text=It%20 produces%20Arabic%20gum%20used,can%20be%20 eaten%20by%20animals.%22 accessed 27 August 2020 Ndiaye, A. (2016). Practices of the Great Green Wall Project in the Ferlo (Senegal): Effects on Pastoral Resilience and Development. In World Journal of Social Science Vol. 3, No. 2, DOI:10.5430/wjss.v3n2p1 accessed 28 August 2020. The New Humanitarian, Backgrounder on the Sahel, West Africa’s Poorest Region, https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/ feature/2008/06/02#:~:text=The%20population%20 is%20growing%20very,Burkina%20Faso%2C%20 Mali%20and%20Niger. accessed 27 August 2020 Time Magazine, Can a 4,815-Mile Wall of Trees Help Curb Climate Change in Africa?, https://time. com/5669033/great-green-wall-africa/ accessed 27 August 2020 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, The Great Green Wall Initiative, www.unccd.int/ actions/great-green-wall-initiative accessed 27 August 2020. Images: Great Green Wall map - https://www.dandc.eu/ en/article/great-green-wall-across-africa-could-stopsahara-expanding-if-done-right, accessed 28 August 2020 Woman watering plants https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/great-green-wall/ accessed 28 August 2020
37
WHERE DOES THE WORD
The variety even within this relatively small selection of languages for a word that stems from a single language is fascinating and almost acts as a microcosm for the dramatic linguistic evolution of communication over time.
‘TREE’ COME FROM? Ruth MacGregor (OHS)
Bibliography
The word ‘tree’ is slightly confusing when you think about it – it appears to be completely distinct from the more Latinate versions such as ‘albero’ in italian or ‘arbre’ in French, or even the German word ‘baum’ – and it is. In fact, linguistically it’s more closely related to the Albanian word ‘dru’ or even the English word ‘true’. Although it may have been pronounced slightly differently, the modern word ‘tree’ would have been used as far back as the 12th century as it was the same in Middle English, shown by works such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’. However, it differs slightly when we reach Old English which was used from approximately 450 to 1150 CE. In Old English, the word ‘tree’ was ‘treow’, which not only meant tree but also ‘trust’ or ‘promise’. This shared linguistic root is why the words ‘tree’ and ‘true’ are so similar, and perhaps explains the common association of trees with concepts such as reliability and steadfastness. This association can be seen even further back, (long before early Germanic tribes brought the predecessors of ‘treow’ to the British Isles), in a language called proto Indo-European (‘PIE’), which, although lacking a written corpus, has been able to be reconstructed enough to theorise that the Indo-Europeans had a word pronounced ‘doru,’ which meant ‘tree’. This word can itself be linked to the PIE word ‘deru’ meaning ‘sturdy’ or ‘strong’, suggesting that the connotations of strength and stability were not lost through the millennia between the probable use of PIE as early as 4500 BCE and the use of Old English as late as 1150 CE.
DWDS. n.d. DWDS – Digitales Wörterbuch Der Deutschen Sprache. [online] Available at: <https:// dwds.de/wb/baum> Violatti, C., 2014. Indo-European Languages. [online] Ancient History Encyclopedia. Available at: <https:// www.ancient.eu/Indo-European_Languages/> Daniele, V., n.d. ETIMOLOGIA. [online] Etimoitaliano.it. Available at: <https://www. etimoitaliano.it/> Maunula, V., 2015. Why All English Trees May Actually Be Oaks - Tales By Trees. [online] Tales by Trees. Available at: <https://www.talesbytrees.com/ tree-etymology/> Powell, E., n.d. Telling Tales In Proto-Indo-European - Archaeology Magazine. [online] Archaeology.org. Availableat:<https://www.archaeology.org/exclusives/ articles/1302-proto-indo-european-schleichers-fable#:> Cooke, G., 2013. The True Story Of ‘True’ - Gina Cooke. [online] TED-Ed. Available at: <https://ed.ted. com/lessons/the-true-story-of-true-gina-cooke> Crystal, D., (2018) Old English. [online] The British Library. Available at: <https://www.bl.uk/medievalliterature/articles/old-english#.>
Words for ‘tree’ clearly derived from the ancient ancestor ‘doru’ can be found in a wide range of languages from Sanskrit to Russian but interestingly languages including Welsh and Greek also seem to share this root, except that rather than meaning simply ‘tree’, these derivatives mean the more specific species ‘oak’. This suggests that many of these languages which use the ancestor ‘doru’ may actually be using a word which more accurately means ‘oak’, possibly considered the most generic tree by speakers of PIE as it is the epitome of sturdiness and reliability. Oddly, the languages with Latinate roots for the word tree which tend to begin with the prefix ‘ar-’ (from the Latin, ‘arbor’) also come directly from PIE, however they take their origin from the proto Indo-European prefix ‘arb-’ which expressed the idea of production and growth. Similarly the German and Dutch words ‘baum’ and ‘boom’ respectively derive from the PIE for ‘to grow or swell’ which is believed to have been pronounced ‘bew’, and closely relate to the English word, ‘beam’ which was developed from the language of early Germanic invaders. 38
