The scientist who pioneered the concept of sophisticated communication between trees now offers a vision for saving our forests, based on nature’s deep-rooted cycles of renewal.
Paradigm-bending ... While Simard’s ideas have received a generally enthusiastic reception from the public, they have received mixed reviews from her fellow scientists, some of whom accuse her of anthropomorphizing trees – investing them with intelligence and agency. Simard replies that the data she and others have collected over the past few decades speaks for itself ... An impassioned argument for preserving forests and helping them to regenerate.
Ms. Simard writes with great affection of the bustling rhythms of forest life ... Ms. Simard has great regard for the 'ancestral knowledge' of indigenous people, writing with reverence of such tribal practices as speaking politely to cedars before harvesting their bark and using music to ask permission of a forest before entering it ... She expresses a hope that she may help, through her work, to validate the holistic native worldviews that see an interconnectedness between all living things ... Ms. Simard clearly has a dreamy side, but in no way does she come across as a crank.
Simard’s new book, When the Forest Breathes, finds her back among the trees, furthering her research while also considering her legacy ... There is poetry in this work deep in the forest, and she doesn’t shy away from it ... Singular.
