Philosophy is forestry’s child

It’s just one week to go until my new book is released on Amazon. The Man Who Planted Trees and Gifted Life is a sequel to Jean Giono’s 1954 classic masterpiece The Man Who Planted Trees and Grew Happiness.

In the Foreword I write:

“Giono’s aim was to popularise tree planting, and his allegorical story contrasted the benefits of environmental restoration with the futility and destructiveness of war. More than 60 years later we are following a path towards unprecedented environmental change, and perhaps even greater societal upheaval. At the same time, humanity is drifting ever-more distant from the natural world. Planting trees is now a popular social norm, but harvesting trees is more often associated with exploitation and destruction, even though good silviculture (forest management) is equally important in the care of our forests.”

I also include a short poem: ‘Philosophy if forestry’s child’:

Philosophy is forestry’s child

When a tree falls in a lonely forest, does it make a sound?

It rings in the labouring forester’s ear,

Yet resonates for all the human race

In nature, so much more profound.

Can we love a forest, yet fell a tree?

The forester sees beyond herself.

Harvesting one, breathes life into more;

More trees, more life, and a future for you and me.

Ask not which came first, the acorn or the oak.

We came as children of the forest;

First our wooden cradle, then our kindling for industry.

Instead think forward — trees will shelter us from ourselves.

Gabriel Hemery, September 2016

Oxford, England

The Man Who Harvested Trees and Gifted Life – view on Amazon

Read more and purchase on Amazon. Available now for pre-order.

Tagged: books, fiction, poetry, writing