“There is no absurdity in imagining the representation of the needs of a tree for sun and water in the face of a proposal to cut it down or pave its immediate radius for a parking lot. We might of course, on reflection, decide to go ahead and cut it down or do the paving, but there is hardly an intelligibility problem about representing the tree's interest in our deciding not to. In the face of their obvious tendencies to maintain and heal themselves, it is very difficult to reject the idea of interests on the part of trees (and plants generally) in remaining alive.”[1]
at times of recession consumers should “return to the high s---tree-----t” [1]
understanding of growth belongs primarily to the domain of practical knowledge:
“A non-mediated perceptual knowledge that orders social relations between people and between people and other living organisms[1]
the Kayans of Borneo who;
“Are of the opinion” that that a tree spirits “visits them with displeasure when any injury done to them. Hence after building a house, whereby they have been forced to ill-treat many trees, these people observe a period of penance for a year, during which they must abstain from many things, such as the killing of bears, tiger cats, and serpents.”[1]
In the 1980s and 1990s, Borneo underwent a remarkable transition. Its forests were levelled at a rate unparallel in human history.
I lived in the cotter's hovel, together with seven other children, and a pig—out there on the grey plain, where there isn't a single tree. But from our windows I could see the wall around the count's park, and apple-trees above it. That was the Garden of Eden, and many fierce angels were guarding it with flaming swords. Nevertheless, I and some other boys found our way to the Tree of Life—now you despise me?
[1]The Street is lined with cars. There’s not a breath of fresh
air in the neighborhood. The grass don’t grow any more, you
can’t raise a carrot in the back yard. They should’ve had a law
against apartment houses. Remember those two beautiful elm
trees out there? When I and Biff hung the swing between
them?
LINDA: Yeah, like being a million miles from the city.
WILLY: They should’ve arrested the builder for cutting those
down. They massacred the neighbourhood. (Lost.) More and
more I think of those days, Linda. This time of year it was lilac
and wisteria. And then the peonies would come out, and the
daffodils. What fragrance in this room!”[1]
Immaterialisation of ecological networks encourages the individual to turn to the individual ego-self. The subject scrutinises the now authorless book, and finds the human author has become an image neither of god nor of man, nor the tribe but the individual lone subject. This lonely subject in the dualist universe identifies its own being as the only repository of certainty, and cries for help, from the only “subject” not too distracted by their own concerns within the capitalist culture to listen :
“ESTRAGON:
We should turn resolutely towards Nature.
VLADIMIR:
We've tried that.” [1]
the Christmas tree, Easter eggs and Christ’s resurrection hint at the existence of a deep strata of desire for ekstatic connection with the non-human world.
a tree planted as a child will grow with the individual, this represents a quality of relational practice
I became accustomed to listening to the inner whispers of knowledge that every bird, or tree or flower could precipitate and there grew the slow realization that whatever voice it was that spoke, or image that formed, it always had relevance for my own personal unfolding. The truth of the eastern sages, that there is no real separation but a continuum of consciousness, began to dawn in the simplest of its meanings – all beings are dancing within a greater dance of space and time, and that dance is choreographed. Synchronicity rather than coincidence is the unavoidable consequence. Whether one realizes this nature of things, is simply a matter of awareness. What begins at first as openness and acceptance of the possibility evolves into a knowledge based upon the reality of experience. “[1]
by developing awareness of the relations between one’s own breathing and the movement of the wind in the trees for example, or learning to “see” as well as “look”, are invitations to access other modes of being; other possible future selves.
Look at a picture of a tree
Describe a tree,
Smell a tree
Plant a tree
Look out of the window at a tree
Watch a video of a tree
Think of the semiotics of tree
Apply semiotic practices of anlysis to
Attempt to perform tree-ness
Understand its process of photosynthesis
Enjoy the pattern of its leaves
Realise they are acid rain burn marks
Walk slowly to the tree
Burn the tree for warmth
Burn yourself by mistake
See the tree as a home for others
Sell the tree for profit
Be reminded of the patience of your mother
Climb the tree
Eat fruit from the tree
Hug the tree
Hang yourself from the tree
Sit in front of the tree and look out towards the audience.
Paint the tree white
“ESTRAGON: We should turn resolutely towards Nature.
VLADIMIR: We've tried that.
ESTRAGON: True.”[1]
Bower bird nest new guinea[1]
[1]August Strindberg: miss Julie The Project Gutenberg EBook of Plays by August Strindberg, Second series by August Strindberg http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14347/pg14347.html Unpaginated accessed 15th January 2011
[1] Arthur Miller’s Death of salesman http://pkpolitics.com/files/2008/05/arthur-miller-death-of-a-salesman.pdf unpaginated
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