In this program, Alessandra Viola, co-author of Brilliant Green: The Surprising Science of Plant Intelligence and of her new book, Flower Power, talks about plant intelligence, plant rights, and plant ethics with moderator Paul Moss, executive director of The Plant Initiative. Laura Pustarfi, board member of The Plant Initiative, provides introductory and closing remarks.

There is a trinity in climate change. The triad is simple–it is composed of carbon dioxide, oxygen, & biodiversity. Billions of years ago, carbon dioxide ruled the roost. The planet was toxic & didn’t have much life. Very slowly, DNA emerged, giving rise to the five kingdoms of life. The plants generated oxygen. Trees & forests became champions at this. Now, humans have cut too many trees and destroyed the biodiversity of the planet’s forests. Resolving the calamity of climate change is simple–three words: carbon dioxide, oxygen, & biodiversity. Let’s begin, let’s take the first footsteps to cure this.

Despite excitement about new technologies to support climate mitigation efforts, there are innovations that humans have little or nothing to do with. Botanist Diana Beresford-Kroeger speaks with Cara Buckley of The New York Times. What can humans learn from the systems in the natural world that they are still discovering? What would it look like to prioritize protecting and rebuilding nature’s own resources? And how can humans foster a greater connection between people and their surroundings?

Forest Ecologist Suzanne Simard reveals that trees are part of a complex, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground mycorrhizal networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities, and share and exchange resources and support. Simard’s extraordinary research and tenacious efforts to raise awareness on the interconnectedness of forest systems, both above and below ground, has revolutionized our understanding of forest ecology. This increasing knowledge is driving a call for more sustainable practices in forestry and land management, ones that develop strategies based on the forest as a whole entity, not on trees as isolated individuals. “Mother Trees and the Social Forest” was given on June 15, 2021 as part of Long Now’s Seminar series.

In this short episode of a film series, Wander, Natascha McElhone reads a passage about trees by the author Hermann Hesse, at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Based on his best-selling book that has profoundly changed our understanding of forests, renowned forester and writer Peter Wohlleben guides us through his most enlightening ideas. Presenting his ecological, biological and academic expertise with infectious enthusiasm and candor, Wohlleben travels through Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Vancouver to illustrate the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland for decades. The result is an immersive and eye-opening look at the scientific mechanisms behind these wonders of nature.

Learn how trees are able to communicate with each other through a vast root system and symbiotic fungi, called mycorrhizae. Most of the forest lives in the shadow of the giants that make up the highest canopy. These are the oldest trees, with hundreds of children and grandchildren. They check in with their neighbors, share food, supplies and wisdom gained over their lives, all while rooted in place. How do they do this? Camille Defrenne and Suzanne Simard explore the vast root system and intricate communication of trees. Lesson by Camille Defrenne and Suzanne Simard, directed by Avi Ofer.

What do trees talk about? In the Douglas fir forests of Canada, see how trees “talk” to each other by forming underground symbiotic relationshipscalled mycorrhizaewith fungi to relay stress signals and share resources with one another. Read “Talking Trees” in the June 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine to learn more about the Douglas fir forests of Canada and the work of forest ecologist Suzanne Simard.

In the English language, pronouns of personhood are reserved for humans—”he,” “she,” “they”—and not for animals, plants, and landscapes. Yet in many of America’s Indigenous languages, such barriers are dissolved, and so, too, is the sense of distance between human and non-human. Orion editor Helen Whybrow speaks with Robin Wall Kimmerer, a speaker of Potawatomi and an enrolled member in the Citizen Band Potawatomi, about how to find a language that affirms human kinship with the natural world. Kimmerer’s essay on the subject, “Speaking of Nature,” appears in the March/April 2017 issue of the magazine.

This fascinating talk by Suzanne Simard presents the scientific research that shows the interconnectedness of life in the forest ecosystem. It takes viewers beneath the forest floor where they learn how trees are communicating and exchanging resources. Going beyond the simple view of a forest as a resource to be exploited, it presents the forest as a complex network of life. Her examination of the relationships that make up the complexity of nature present compelling support for the idea that “We are all one.” Simard studies the surprising and delicate complexity in nature. Her main focus is on the below-ground fungal networks that connect trees and facilitate underground inter-tree communication and interaction. Her team’s analysis revealed that the fungi networks move water, carbon and nutrients such as nitrogen between and among trees as well as across species. The research has demonstrated that these complex, symbiotic networks in our forests—at the hub of which stand what she calls the “mother trees”—mimic our own neural and social networks. This groundbreaking work on symbiotic plant communication has far-reaching implications in both the forestry and agricultural industries, in particular concerning sustainable stewardship of forests and the plant’s resistance to pathogens. She works primarily in forests, but also grasslands, wetlands, tundra and alpine ecosystems.

Few books have been more eagerly passed from hand to hand with delight in these last years than Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. Krista Tippett, host of On Being, interviewed her in 2015, and it quickly became a much-loved show as her voice was just rising in common life. Robin is a botanist and also a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She’s written, “Science polishes the gift of seeing, Indigenous traditions work with gifts of listening and language.” An expert in moss—a bryologist—she describes mosses as the “coral reefs of the forest.” Robin Wall Kimmerer opens a sense of wonder and humility for the intelligence in all kinds of life that so many humans are used to naming and imagining as inanimate.

In a theatrical feature and one-hour television documentary, viewers follow visionary scientist, conservationist and author, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, on her journey to the most beautiful forests of the northern hemisphere. From the sacred sugi and cedar forests of Japan, the ancient Raheen Wood of Ireland, the walnut and redwood trees of America, to the great boreal forest of Canada, Beresford-Kroeger tells the amazing stories behind the history and legacy of these ancient forests while also explaining the science of trees and the irreplaceable roles they play in protecting and feeding the planet.

Trees talk, know family ties, and care for their young? Is this too fantastic to be true? Scientist Suzanne Simard of the University of British Columbia and German forester and author Peter Wohlleben have been investigating and observing the communication between trees over decades. And their findings are most astounding. Trees are so much more than rows of wood waiting to be turned into furniture, buildings or firewood. They are more than organisms producing oxygen or cleaning the air for us. They are individual beings that have feelings, know friendship, have a common language, and look after each other. This documentary explores the various ways that trees communicate with each other—from a forester’s observations as well as through the microscope of a scientist. The film centers around the groundbreaking scientific discoveries that Suzanne Simard has been making in the Canadian Wilderness since the 1990s and that seem to be valid for all natural forests around the world.

Numen brings a fresh perspective to conversations about health and wellness and real, tangible actions to build a grassroots, ecologically sustainable healthcare movement. Numen is the first feature-length documentary to celebrate the healing power of plants. The film features stunning footage of medicinal plants and thought-provoking interviews with Drs. Tieraona Low Dog and Larry Dossey, the late Bill Mitchell, ND, author Kenny Ausubel, herbalists Rosemary Gladstar, Phyllis Light and many others and calls for a re-awakening of traditional knowledge about plants and their uses.

In the late 1970’s, in Italy, in the world-renowned cultural community known as Damanhur, a device was developed that can translate the electromagnetic impulse of the plants into melodies. Damanhur was established in the Alpine foothills of northern Italy in 1978 and is populated in part by scientists, doctors, researchers and artists who dedicate their lives to understanding the function of Nature as a living, intelligent force. For many years, Oberto Airaudi (Falco Tarassaco), founder of Damanhur, and his fellow researchers, analyzed bioelectric processes that are conducted by plants, trees and flowers. They discovered that the conductivity is a core indicator of the life force of plants generating key pathways for water, minerals, and other nutrients within trees and flowers. They utilized different bio-feedbacks and devices to demonstrate the plant’s ability to interact with humans. Our most famous experiments are “the plant driving a small cart” and “the plant opening a door.” After many years the researchers decided to focus on plant music. It was felt that music was the most direct and universal channel for making nature’s message understood by all.