Talking Christmas Trees

At this time of the longest nights many bring an evergreen tree in doors and festoon it with lights and gifts for loved ones. For some this is a symbol of light and hope that life will renew itself once more. No doubt it can help us endure the darkness.

In this short video Professor Suzanne Simard shares her research illuminating the unseen networks of cooperation, communication and resource sharing occurring between trees as they grow together in a forest. Perhaps the more we learn about this secret life of trees the more urgency we will feel to adjust our simplistic interpretation of the way Nature operates, summed up by the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’. It is used so much to justify our own behaviour and our treatment of the natural world – yet when we look more closely and with different eyes we can see another story of reality.