19 APRIL 2023 SKIN

I once heard it said that our forests and trees are to Earth as our skin is to our bodies. Trees do so much besides storing carbon. They offer protection by anchoring soil, along with all of its necessary nutrients, making it available to the roots of the trees as well as to all of the understory plant growth. Trees help to slow down the flow of water, which is also vital to plant and animal life alike. Water is allowed to trickle slowly down through the leaf litter and further down into the underground aquifers where it is stored. This stored water becomes a lifeline during dry and extremely hot spells. The trees in a forest are home to millions of species, from the primates that live their entire lives in the canopy, to the tiny rodents nesting at their feet. Most birds would not exist if it were not for the trees that offer them a place to build nests and to roost at night.

When you take away the trees by clear cutting ancient forests, what you have left is a desert, mostly devoid of life. These “deserts” are often planted with hundreds of acres of a monoculture such as palms, pines, corn, or soybeans. Because these areas lack diversity, they are not sustainable. They are prone to insect infestation and disease, so they are doused with chemicals that seep into the soil and into the water. When the crop is harvested, the field often lies fallow, exposed and vulnerable. The once living soil has no protection from drying winds that blow it miles away. It bakes and cracks in the sun and rain washes away any remaining nutrients. When the produce is grown and harvested time after time, the soil becomes depleted. Eventually, the soil itself dies, becoming devoid of all the microorganisms that would normally continue to “feed” it.

Every city, too, is like a desert. The plants, the trees, and the grasses that were once native to the area are swathed in concrete, asphalt, and buildings that reach to the sky. The soil is smothered and compacted. Precious water is lost in storm drains. Weather becomes extreme and in many places the wind becomes relentless. There are no trees to slow it down and it howls menacingly through the skyscrapers. The people and animals living in these city deserts must breathe the dusty air, toxic fumes from automobiles, cigarette smoke, and an infinite number of chemicals. We have forgotten what it is to breathe fresh air. We have become the festering wound upon Earth’s precious body.