Earth Week 2023: A Conversation About Forests

Watch the interview with John Perlin on Youtube

Why Trees Matter: A Journey Through Time and Forests with Author John Perlin

Forests disappear where civilizations develop. And civilizations fail where trees fall. This is the underlying premise of ‘A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization” by author and historian John Perlin.

In his book, Perlin delivers a captivating account of how trees have influenced the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history.

For millennia, trees have served as humanity’s principal building material and fuel, making them a critical component of our existence long before the era of fossil fuels.

However, our relationship with trees has been complex, and deforestation has caused negative impacts on societies throughout history. Surprisingly, the idea of forest conservation is not new. It has been around for thousands of years. Yet, despite this profound recognition of the importance of trees, we persist in destroying this resource.

With our current global environmental challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss, it’s critical that we end this cycle of destruction.

Perlin’s work highlights the importance of trees and underscores the need for prioritizing sustainable forest management practices.

This Earth Day, we sat down with Perlin to discuss ‘A Forest Journey.’ Below are some of the highlights.

Archaeopteris: the first true tree that changed the world

385 million years ago, Archaeopteris, the first true tree, “changed the world.” This is because Archaeopteris made the Earth habitable by producing oxygen and cooling the Earth by absorbing carbon dioxide.

With these conditions, tetrapods (creatures that led to what we call vertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) could leave the sea, come onto land, breathe oxygen, and find food.

Archaeopteris also created the geological conditions for life to flourish. This is because its roots played a vital role in protecting the soil against erosion and helped to create a living soil.

“So it was as I called it, the tree that changed the world, because they introduced forever and forever the whole idea of tree.”- Perlin

Forests and humanity

Throughout history, wood has played a critical role in human civilization. Alongside fire, wood allowed for the extraction of metals from ores during the metal ages. Wood has also allowed for the building of homes, furniture and tools that have been fundamental to human survival and development.

In fact, the availability of wood has often dictated the movements of civilizations, with a lack of wood leading to societal problems and a surplus of wood fuelling westward expansion.

In our talk with Perlin, we touched on “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” This literary work is the first recorded account of what happened when humanity met forests (more than 5000 years ago). It covers the story of Gilgamesh, a Semitic ruler who has often been described as an alpha male. He wanted to conquer the gods by conquering the cedar forest.

And that’s exactly what he did, in his pursuit of timber, he destroyed forest after forest.

Two key themes arise from this literary work: we get a glimpse into deforestation at the time, and surprisingly, we also learn that conservation and environmental ethics are not new concepts. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” goes on to tell the story of how one of Gilgamesh’s accomplices, Enkidu, goes on to regret this great forest destruction.

The remainder of Perlin’s book comprehensively documents the role of wood and repeated patterns of deforestation for many Old and New World civilizations such as Mesopotamia, China, Mycenaean Greece, Rome, England, West Indies, Africa, America and Brazil.

Today: we need the services that trees provide

Fast forward to today, the great deforestation of the Earth has brought us into the crisis of global warming. We have cut down these “great sequesters of carbon.”

Whilst the world places much emphasis on the role of trees and carbon, they are so much more than that.

Trees and rainfall

Up to about a decade ago, we thought all precipitation was caused by evaporation, but we now know that 40% of the world’s precipitation is created by the evapotranspiration of leaves.

Trees not only provide a significant portion of the world’s rainfall but also act as a relay for rain over great distances. For example, trees in the Congo provide 40% of the water for the Nile, while trees in Scandinavia and Siberia relay rain all the way to China. Unfortunately, deforestation has had serious consequences on water levels in certain areas. In the Amazon, water shortages in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo have been linked to deforestation, and in Kenya, deforestation has led to water levels so low that hydroelectric dams don’t work as well.

Overall, it’s clear that forests are essential to maintaining adequate rainfall and water supplies around the world. Which is vitally important for a “thirsty world.”

Trees and protection from disease

Trees form a defence protecting millions of people from diseases. Forests provide a balance; they allow for wildlife diversity and this diversity protects us from dangerous diseases.

One such example is Lyme disease. When you have a healthy forest, you have lots of specialized predators who keep down the population of disease-carrying species. And when those predators are destroyed by cutting down the forest, the animals, for example, mice, proliferate and form a pool for the ticks that spread Lyme disease.

And in South America, for example, malaria jumps once the trees are cut down because the malarial mosquitoes proliferate, while the non-malarial mosquitoes die when the forest is opened.

As it’s been said, “When you destroy forests, the insects bite.”

We are dependent on trees for survival

Perlin’s work makes it clear: we’re inextricably tied to the trees. Without trees, we would have had no civilizations. Without the trees, we would have had no humanity, because there would have been no settlement anywhere in the world possible without trees.

And so, therefore, we must recognize our dependence on trees. We must consider not only wood from trees but also the trees themselves as our mainstay of survival.

Forests do so much for us. Let’s protect them: https://www.xilva.global/

You can learn more about ‘A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization’ here: aforestjourney.com