Episode 21 - Habitat Ravaged is Not Progress

There are great benefits to be found in trees for people and communities. Unfortunately the benefits do not discernibly translate to profits for shareholders or cities.

A transcript of this Haiku Life podcast together with photos will be available on the mygreatergood.com website.

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Haiku Live Podcast, where we take a little exploration into some abbreviated moments. Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry. It is traditionally focused on nature and captures a fleeting moment within the space of three lines and a 5-7-5 syllable count. In a world so overwhelmingly immersive, a haiku is a moment of respite. These haiku are mine, moments of life, thoughts in the ether. Is it just winter? Limb to limb light space yawns or habitat ravaged. Walking in the forest is one of my most favourite things to do. In fact it is essential to me. It is where I contemplate the essential in me. Walking in the same place on a regular basis, one becomes keenly aware of change. The changes of the season mark the passage of time. When beads of sweat pour down my face and my shirt clings wet on my back and the creak languishes in the thick humid air, I walk in the hazy shade of the thick canopy and think in a few months time I will walk this path in a hoodie, maybe even wearing gloves, and hear the crunch of all these shade leaves on the ground. The change of seasons, a reliable and comforting rhythm to life, a progression as natural as the ebb and flow of the tide. But it's not just the natural change and evolution of a landscape I confront on a daily walk. The forest is brighter, even more than it should be in the leafless winter sky. Great trees plucked, gaps plundered from view. Bike trails grow wider and crisscross newly cleared areas. Orange and red paint appears on trees headed for the chopping block. And the powers that be tout this as progress. Progress, regardless of the fact that trees help fight climate change, they clean the air, they make neighborhoods quieter and cooler, and spending time around trees reduces stress, it lowers blood pressure, and it boosts the mood. But none of these vastly important objectives for humankind grow immediate and discernible wealth for shareholders or cities. Large scale tree removal, wildlife devastation, habitat loss, that puts money in the bank for some. I don't call that progress. Not in the sense we should be pursuing, not for the earth, and definitely not for our personal well being and peace of mind. Thank you for listening to today's Haiku Life Podcast. You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram. A transcript of this podcast can also be found on the mygreatergood.com website. Matane, see you later.