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What If Every Tree In The Forest Had A Name?

  • Writer: horizonshiftlab
    horizonshiftlab
  • Jan 2
  • 15 min read

Updated: Jan 22

A picture of a forest, from a sloped angle with the sun rays shining through - it's serene, green and awe inspiring.
Source: BLMOregon via Our World by United Nations University

In this episode we explore both challenges and hopeful developments regarding the future of forests, balancing current threats with emerging solutions. While climate change and pest infestations pose serious risks to our forests, innovative developments offer rays of hope. Examining America's dismal wood recycling rates, we discover how one startup is reimagining the future of fallen trees. From a groundbreaking study showing how urban forests reduce disease risk in Louisville, to doctors prescribing forest walks and hospitals creating healing gardens, we explore new pathways for human-forest connection. We pose the question: if every tree in the forest had a name, could it help us reimagine our relationship with nature?





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Episode Transcript:

Sue: Welcome to Signal Shift, by Horizon Shift Lab. We're your hosts, Lana Price, Raakhee Natha, and Sue Chi. Each episode, we explore the latest signals in technology, culture, and society, uncovering insights that will impact our daily lives in the future. Join us as we shift perspectives, explore possibilities, and delve into real changes in our world. Curious to learn more? Go to horizonshiftlab.com.


[0:36]


Sue: Hello! Welcome to another episode of Signal Shift. It's Sue here, and I've got Raakhee and Lana here with me.


And I don't know about where you live, but around these parts here, it is that magical time of year where the forest just seems so enchanting and magical with snow. And I was wondering, you know, have you ever had a magical experience in a forest before? Because I certainly have. 

One of my most magical memories was going to Sequoia National Park just around this time of year, and beholding those trees for the first time, I mean, it brought tears to my eyes. It was like a profound experience.


And so, today, we're talking about the future of forests. And you know, forests have been having their moment for both good and bad these days. 


You know, on the bad side, we continue to see forests ravaged by wildfires in places all over the world. We've seen the alarming disappearance of forests, and it only seems to be accelerating. Overall, about a third of them have disappeared in the last 10,000 years. Fifty percent of that has occurred in the last 100 years. And it's crazy, according to an assessment by the IUCN, which is the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, about 38% of the world's plant species is susceptible to extinction.


So lots of things to worry about, but on the other hand, there are ways that humans are trying to protect and replenish forests, right? So urban forests, for example, are having a moment since the pandemic when they became really critical for the well-being of people, especially in cities. 

And now that cities are trying to combat climate change, forests are really important. And in the US, the government made a historic investment in forestry, and it included urban forestry, for example. 


You know, there's more research about how trees are connected to each other, how they can help humans benefit from their existence, all of these things. So lots of things also to be hopeful for.

So this week, Raakhee and Lana, what does the future of forests mean to you? What did you find this week? 


[2:50]


Lana: So I did not know this, but I learned, OK, let me ask both of you. If you had to guess, what percentage of wood is recycled in America? What would you say?


Raakhee: Five or 10%, maybe. 


Lana: What about you, Sue? 


Sue: I was going to say maybe like 15 to 20. Yeah. 


Lana: Raakhee, that's amazing. It’s 5 to 10%. 


Sue: Nice one. 


Lana: Exactly right. 


Raakhee: My pessimism paid off.


Lana: Yeah. But the crazy thing is, for steel, it's 90 to 95%. So we have figured out how to recycle some things, but for wood, it's so low. And the global demand for wood is expected to keep growing, because we use trees for fuel and for manufacturing of buildings and furniture and paper. And all of that comes from cutting down trees. 


And so there's a lot of reasons why we don't recycle wood. There's like infrastructure challenges and some technical challenges, between like, wood gets contaminated with nails and screws or paint or different types of wood require different processing. But really, ultimately, it's a lot of our industry practices are why we don't recycle wood, because ultimately, it's faster and cheaper to just throw it away, to put it in the landfill or to burn it.


And so I actually picked this up from the Time Magazine Innovations List, but a startup called Cambium, which is basically taking trees, fallen trees that would have normally gone to the landfill or be made into wood chips, trees that have to be cut down because of decay or because of natural disaster or development, like you're creating a new housing project and you're wiping down all these trees, those normally just go, they don't get used for a different purpose. And so they're basically taking these fallen trees that would normally go to landfill or be burned and upcycle them. 


And so it's a wood upcycling company and they're using it for carbon negative construction materials. And so they're really kind of seizing this opportunity to connect arborists, the people who cut down trees for those jobs, with sawmills, right? And so they're creating this kind of value in the chain.


And so I thought that was a really, you know, that does connect to the future of forests, right? Because right now, we're really looking at virgin trees are kind of our main source of everything, and 90, right, 95% of trees are just being used one time. And so that, you know, this idea of upcycling or recycling trees. I saw a story about, you know, grants for a wood circular economy, like that is, I think, something that we could, it seems like there's room to explore, so that we're not going straight to the forest as our primary source. 


And so that's, that's my, that's my signal and I'm curious to see what you guys, what you guys have.


Sue: Thanks, Lana. Yeah, that's hopeful for some of the solutions, but yeah, there's just so much virgin forest that's still going down for toilet paper, you know, like just single use things all the time. So thanks for raising awareness around that. 


I'm curious, Raakhee, what are you thinking? What's your, what's your signal?


[7:15]


Raakhee: Yeah, and I have to first mention, Lana, yeah, I think great signal and it reminded me of, there's an architect by the name of Michael Green, and he's got a TED talk. And he is trying to change our understanding of what we consider the fundamental building materials, for buildings. So we start using our natural resources differently, so that, you know, the construction industry kind of changes, yeah, what, what the both the carbon footprint is, but the output of how we use things like wood and recycling and yeah, it's really interesting. The name is Michael Green, so a TED talk like worth looking up and some interesting things there. It really reminded me of that. So I think, yeah, but hopeful for, for certain.


There's also something else you mentioned, Lana, as you were talking, but you spoke about decaying trees. And so, yeah, I wanted to talk about something around that, that this is a bit of a concerning one. Yeah, but I learned about basically these pine beetles. And sometimes they are called mountain pine beetles. 


And in Colorado in 2018 and 2019, they had quite an impact on the trees there. So basically what happens with these pine beetles is they, they basically burrow into pine, into pine trees, in essence, to lay their eggs. But once the eggs hatch, the offspring basically feed on the living tree from the inside out. And just in a few weeks, the larva actually destroyed the tree's entire vital system.


So imagine this tree that has stood there for thousands, you know, of years. And yeah, this larva, this little things coming in a few weeks, you'll see these will be trees where if you look at the landscape of a forest, and it's all green, and you look at one there or two there that are red and brown, and it's not fall, it's not a natural, they basically decayed on the inside. And now they just dead trees in essence, right, and they red and brown. And they've died. 


And it's a cycle that continues on sort of a yearly basis. So these new now little pine beetles will do the exact same thing the next year around. And then they'll have larva and it spreads and spreads. 


And we've been able to control it for the longest time, because climate and things have supported that as well. And what happens is that in the colder months, the larva just die off, right, because it's cold enough. And now with climate change, and our temperatures have changed, they're not dying off.


So we're having these sort of outbreaks and epidemics. So Colorado had it really bad in 2018, 2019, and this year, the Alabama Forestry Commission has issued an alert about what they are calling the Southern Pine Beetle, saying that it's at epidemic level in Alabama. 


And basically they're saying it's the worst they've had it in their area in 20 years. So since the early 2000s, it's happening in different places and different spots. Yeah. And I think basically the Forestry Commission of Alabama said that there's about 5,000 troubled spots with an average of 191 trees killed at each spot. So I mean, if we do the math there, that's scary enough.


So yeah, these trees basically die, there's nothing that can be used for. And it's just sad, right? The annual tree loss, and I'm going to throw numbers out there that we can't comprehend. The annual tree loss attributed to the beetle exceeds 100 million board feet of sore timber and 30 million cubic feet of pulp wood. 


So I don't think any of us can even wrap our heads around those kinds of numbers, but that's sort of a loss that happens. And I think the scary thing for me, it just shows the cycle of how these things work. Climate change, more of the pine beetles, more tree destruction. But the dead trees are also a massive fire hazard. 


So here we go, another factor we don't need for all the fires we're seeing in wildfires. But dead trees are actually really dangerous for hikers, for anyone who's biking in the forests and mountains as well. You might not see one, right? It might be, it could literally just fall over you and you could get hurt really bad. So just a warning as well, if you see red, orange trees, stay away from them if you're hiking or cycling in the forest.


So yeah, this is something I didn't know about, I learned about it now. And I think the solution, interestingly, I think it sits, and, Sue, you spoke about this when we spoke about Time’s Inventions, and you spoke about the bioluminescence petunia. And this whole idea of biotechnology, and the solution I think is going to have to sit in making the tree more resilient, right? We don't necessarily want to, or can even kill off these pine beetles fast enough, but it's changing the genetics of the tree and doing genetic engineering using biotechnology to make the tree be able to withstand this larva that get kind of, yeah, these eggs that get laid within them. 


So I'm really interested in what the future is going to hold, but I think biotechnology is going to be so important in maintaining our forests.


[12:45]


Sue: Thanks, Raakhee. And I heard you use the word “sad” about the destruction of the trees, like the, it's interesting how we have a lot of feelings about when we think about what's happening to the trees, about the forest, and it makes me wonder about, yeah, that human arboreal connection. Like what really is there, you know, when the trees in Sequoia were on fire, people literally wanted to go to help save them. So there's definitely something, something there.


So my study comes out of Kentucky, the state of Kentucky, and it was actually a study from the University of Louisville, it was based on a $15 million project called the Green Heart Louisville Project. 


And you know, you might have heard in the past, there have been studies about building urban forests and what it does to the heat effect, right, the heat island effect in urban areas. This one actually wanted to do a clinical study related directly to people's health. So it studied how trees, if they were planted strategically, could impact people's health, especially in areas of high air pollution.


So it followed more than 700 residents in around like a four square mile area in the city. They planted 8,000 trees. And overall, so far, the study found that residents in the areas where they planted these trees had anywhere from 13 to 20 percent lower levels of an inflammatory marker in their blood compared to residents in these other areas. And this was like a particular marker that had a leading risk for heart disease, cancer and diabetes. So it was pretty significant. 


They're saying it's the first study of its kind where it was a clinical trial designed for health. And so, you know, they want to continue the study because there's so many other issues they want to work on, but, you know, it's good news for Louisville. They're ranked among the worst in the state for air quality. It's got a high rate of heart disease, so, you know, this being one kind of clinical health intervention is a really, really cool idea.


And it may have more than just that kind of benefit, right, that we've been talking about. It goes back to, I think, Raakhee, you had conjured up this vision of, you know, this holistic healing program, and, you know, it's a combination of the medicine you take, the prescriptions you might get, but also you're being prescribed a walk in the forest, you know, exposure to healing arts, for example, and, you know, you mentioned the Time’s list. Here we go again. There was that medical center that includes, like, a forest walk on their campus with fragrant herbs, lavender, you know, rooftop garden, stuff like that.


So I thought that was a really cool thing, and, you know, for me, having grown up in cities for most of my life, to know that, especially in historically marginalized areas, if you could make that real scientific connection, hopefully that could actually make a much bigger argument for why cities really need to invest in both planting, but, like, maintaining urban forests in the future, so, yeah. So that might be something where you don't have to travel far away to see a forest. You'll get the benefits just by walking around your own neighborhood, that's my hope.


So yeah, lots of different signals, both holding the tension of, like, some of the deforestation, the damage that we're seeing to our forest, and the impact of that, some hopeful solutions we have, you know, curious as you're combining signals. Are you seeing a future you might like? You might have some hope for, some changes in the future. What do you see?


[16:34]


Lana: Yeah, I guess to respond, I'll respond to Raakhee's. I mean, I did, I did see also a signal of a startup, it's a Silicon Valley startup that is trying to make, like, genetically create a climate resilient tree, and I think it's called Living Carbon. And so, though I don't know if how they're creating it will also, you know, to your point about the beetle, right, like, how are they designing this tree, and what is it supposed… I think it's around photosynthesis, and so, I'm not sure if that's going to help it survive a pine beetle invasion, but there, so folks are out there working on that.


Yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's funny, I was also going to do, the original signal that I was thinking about doing was about doctors prescribing walks in the park. And so, Park Rx programs that are growing in popularity in the US and Canada, where they prescribe national parks to patients, or even, they'll, there are maps that exist for doctors so that they can see what the nearest parks are to their patients, and they can say, like, go for a 20 minute walk in X, you know, a few times a day, and report back on, on how you're feeling, especially for stress and anxiety and things like that. 


But yeah, I guess in response to your question, Sue, I think, I mean, we do have to hold the balance, right, we do have to recognize the things that we can see that are blatant, like the wildfires and, you know, news coming out of, like, the Amazon, like, the destruction of forests, and I think to Raakhee's point, things that we can't see, you know, but they're happening. But at the same time, you know, hold hope for that as we continue to innovate and, you know, using technology or, you know, scientific progress for good that we can continue to counter some of these impacts, and so we're creating a balance and doing what we can. So I don't know, that's, that's just sort of my reaction off the cuff.


Raakhee: Yeah, Lana, I love that, and I fully agree with you, I think you spoke about that really beautifully, about that balance, right, between our values and nature, but also technology, like, we can't rule it out. And, like, oh, keep technology, it's going to help. Things like, you know, genetic engine, we are at a point where we need these things now both for our own health, both for our environments, we have to find a way of making it all work, and I'm very optimistic and hopeful about that. 


And I think I'll share something that was also fun and inspiring as I was looking into forests was just, I found something called a forest book cafe, in somewhere near Tokyo, in Kamakura, near Tokyo, and it's really adorable. It's a book cafe, but it's got a view of the forest, so it's situated in such a beautiful location, and you can have your coffee, and again, just being a library being so, like, it's a book cafe, so being able to sit there and read books and do it in a forest. And just, you know, I mean, wow, where else would you want to read a book, right? I can't think of a more beautiful spot. 


And then I found out that the Mill Valley Library in California is also kind of like that. It's built literally between these massive trees and in the forest, and it's really beautiful as well, like, just architecturally was really forward whenever it was built, and a stunning location. I was like, oh, great, I can actually go and see this. 


And I thought about, yeah, I think it resonated because treehouse, right, and how beautiful that is, and yeah, it just made me think about things like that as well, the simple things like, you know, build those treehouses, like connect to the tree, have that tree in your backyard, and go back to having a treehouse, and then yes, let's have these libraries that celebrate the forest, and let's build that relationship again, and these urban forests, like you spoke about, Sue, and let's have them in health centers.


I think there's a hospital, I think it might be Chicago, I'll have to double track on that one, but one of the cities where the hospital has built an urban rooftop with, yeah, with plants and herbs and things they're going to use in the hospital. But I think it's also a space where somebody can go up and be like, here on green and heal. So even to very sort of commercial and traditional hospital settings, yeah, I think the penny is kind of dropping, right, about what we need, so we see these changes happening. So it's all, there is some scary stuff happening, and it is concerning, and we should be worried, but there's a lot of hopeful stuff, a lot of, a lot of hopeful stuff.


Sue: Yeah, based on what you just said, Raakhee, I just had this vision of like, oh, what is that job where you're at a hospital or a healthcare center, and you get to design these gardens for different impact -- can I sign up for that? Trying to do that, maybe that is a job in the future, maybe it sounds like it's already a job, very interesting. Just like hospitals are now having curators for their art, you know, there could be something like that, so very interesting. 


Yeah, I think two things are coming up for me here, one is just to your point, you know, you're holding both, definitely there is a role for science, scientists, biotech, also citizen science, because how are you going to know about these trees, like we got to be out there observing the natural world. And so I think for me, I'm just taking back like, yeah, there are all these apps now where you can see if something different is happening, enough data points may call out something that needs to be paid attention to. 


And then recently I was in Quebec City, and I went to the Parliament there, they had an art exhibit all about the future, and it was just thought-provoking questions about the future, and I remember, not the words exactly, but it was basically like, what if every single tree had a name, and you know, what would that make us do differently? 


So I thought that was interesting, because again, even with the Sequoia National Park, it was national news because, was it General Sherman, like there was a named tree that was endangered, and people know that named tree, and so there are a lot of trees out there. But I was thinking, yeah, if there were more trees with some identity, yeah, how would we behave differently if we knew that they were under disease, or something, so I thought that was a very interesting, interesting idea.


Well, thank you for just imagining what the future of forests could look like, both the good and the bad, and just hopefully a call out of things we might have to pay attention to in the future, maybe new ways we might see forests appearing in our communities, new kinds of jobs related to the kinds of forests, and the ways we need to protect and regrow them, so lots of interesting things to keep in mind.


Thank you all so much for listening, I'm curious as you are out and about, you know, are there some trees you never noticed before that are standing right there? I'd be curious to see if your eyes are observing some different things today. 


As always, thank you so much, and if you have any comments or questions, please go to horizonshiftlab.com, leave us a message there, and we'll see you next time, bye for now.


[24:47]

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