Page 16 - Boca Club News - July '19

Page 16, Boca Club News
The Arts

Book Review: “The Secret Wisdom of Nature: Trees, Animals

and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things”

By Nils A. Shapiro many others. In this fact-filled, who were worried about their livestock; the last wolf there was
This is the third in a trilogy of anecdotal and engaging book, the killed in the 1930s. The result was that Yellowstone’s rivers
international bestsellers by Peter author devotes chapters to these began to change course, meander, riverbanks became stripped
Wohlleben, whose decades of various emotions, providing of vegetation, and seasonal flooding caused soil erosion. You
experience as the overseer of one specific experiences with animals will learn the interesting reason for this, a perfect example of the
of Europe’s oldest natural forests- that demonstrate such feelings. consequences of human interference without thinking through
--combined with his thirst for Peter Wohlleben’s newest the consequences.
new research and knowledge, his book, “The Secret Wisdom of • It is a surprising fact that the salmon---which swim
personal compassion and convincing Nature: Trees, Animals, and the upstream, fighting their way up waterfalls and trying to
presentations ---have changed the way millions of people view Extraordinary Balance of All escape the clutches of bears in order to spawn in the American
the world around them. Living Things,” brings all of his northwest---also at the same time help the local trees to grow
I count myself among such people, and my life is richer for important thoughts together in higher and stronger!
it. what may be his single most critical warning to us all—one • Trees are rooted in place? The forest trees in Central Europe
The first of this author’s books that I read, and reviewed that is expressed in the last paragraph of his book, just before that like cold weather are trying to migrate further north because
in this column, was “The Hidden Life of Trees: What They the Epilogue: “...our problem today isn’t cold but increasingly of climate warming, but human logging and property laws
Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret warm temperatures. The positive message from all this is that are stifling their natural desire and ability to move in order to
World.” In what turned out to be one of the most unforgettable not only can we win back the original forests, but doing that survive the global warming crisis.
books I have ever read, a true life changer, this professional could also steer the climate in the right direction. And to achieve • Perhaps you had better not look too closely, but chances
forester describes hundreds of clear and remarkable scientific this we don’t even need to do anything. Just the opposite, in fact. are there may be uninvited creatures (such as bacteria and water
facts about the many species of trees in natural forests, all of We need to leave things alone—on as large a scale as possible.” lice) in your morning coffee, thanks to underground water that
which information leads to an undeniable truth: that trees have Mind you, the author clearly recognizes the danger of leaks into pipes.
not only Intelligence, but other abilities that were heretofore climate change. By saying “leave things alone,” he is decrying- • The author is surprisingly objective in his approach to
unrecognized. Since I read this book, I now marvel at and --among other things---the annual destruction of millions of many issues. As partial as he is to the trees that are so much of
cherish the trees that I pass as I walk and drive past them, acres of natural forest (the logging of trees that provide the his life, when he discusses such subjects as the bark beetles,
aware of what is happening both above and below the ground. very oxygen we humans rely on to breathe!), as well as the aphids, fungi, ants, deer, woodpeckers and other creatures that
It is an awesome feeling, one I wish we would make available accelerated extraction of oil and gas that adds carbon dioxide prey upon and can destroy a tree, he also presents the case for
to everyone by teaching this to students at an earlier age. into the atmosphere and speeds up the heating of our planet. But their individual right to life and survival, and the contribution
Some months later, I read the author’s second book, Wohlleben, as he forcefully and brilliantly describes throughout that each makes in the overall network of nature.
“The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion— this book, points out that nature has a way of healing itself over • A perfect example of the negative impact of human
Surprising Observations of a Hidden World.” In this case, as a time if we humans stop interfering with the process. interference occurred in Germany in the heavy-snow winter
result of my own deep love of all animals from the time I was a He tells that story with hundreds of fascinating examples of of 2012-13. Hunters set out racks of food for deer in the
child, I needed no convincing of the fact that both domesticated the impact of our interference---not only now, but from the time forest—not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because
and wild creatures share the wide range of emotions that of the Neanderthals---as well as ways in which other creatures they wanted to be sure to have enough good-sized antlers as
behavioral scientists until recently ascribed only to humans. also influence the world around them. hunting trophies. As a result, the deer population increased so
Studies in recent years have revealed that very many species Here are just a few examples: much that there wasn’t enough food for all of them the rest of
share such feelings as love, gratitude, intelligence, fear, desire, • In the nineteenth century, a decision was made to rid
courage, grief, shame, empathy, pain, regret, altruism, and so Yellowstone National Park of wolves at the request of ranchers Book Review on page 17