The Planet's Arboreal Cathedrals

Happy are those

    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,
2 but their delight i in the law of the Lord    and on his law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees

    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

                       Psalm 1:1-3 NRSVue

They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot...

                                St. Joni of Mitchell 

 I was a little surprised to see that Michael Christie's novel, Greenwood, is one of the five finalists for CBCs Canada Reads this year. Don't get me wrong, it is an excellent book but it was published in 2019 which is forever ago, isn't it? The subtitle for Greenwood is "a novel of a family tree in a dying forest." In some respects this thoughtfully constructed, well told story was overshadowed by another arboreal novel from the previous year,  Richard Powers magnificent Pulitzer Prize winner, The Overstory. Both are deserving of our attention, though, and I'm glad to see this recognition by Canada Reads. 

I went back to the opening chapter of Greenwood because it paints a sobering picture of a world in which trees have been pushed to extinction by a global blight called The Withering. There are still pockets of forest in places such as the gulf islands of British Columbia, which happens to be where Christie and his family reside. Only wealthy guests, called pilgrims,  are able to visit these shrines including the Greenwood Arboreal Cathedral in carefully orchestrated experiences in what were likely the first and probably last "churches."

The religious language of these first pages is striking and somehow appropriate. I've been alongside trees which inspire awe and reverence equal to or surpassing the way I felt in the great cathedrals of Europe, and I'm an art history grad. 

We have come to understand that trees are essential to our survival as a species in so many ways, yet we are reckless in destroying vast swathes of forest around the world, including here in Canada. In a dystopian denial of the truth trees are cut to produce wood pellets which are marketed as "green" energy. In Brazil, under Jair Bolsonaro, so much of the Amazon rainforest was clearcut that it will probably never recover. Indigenous peoples and religious leaders who protested were often murdered. 

You may have noticed that there have been protests in Toronto regarding the destruction of two-hundred-year-old trees to make way for a new transit line. The trees are adjacent to Osgoode Hall Law School so some heavy-weight lawyers and figures such as former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson are pushing back. While I applaud their efforts, not far away in notorious Moss Park trees are coming down for the construction of the same line. 

As we've ventured into the psalms for a study at Trenton United I've pointed out that the first of 150 psalms speaks about developing our spiritual root system like a tree planted by the water and, yes, there is the cautionary word "wither." Was Michael Christie aware of this biblical image as he wrote? Maybe we'll find out. 

The bible is a remarkable "treed" source of wisdom, so I will once again suggest that we all walk amidst trees as an act of reverence for Creator and Creation. We might even hug some as an act of prayer. Don't worry that someone is watching. And don't wait until it's too late.