TREES

 This tree stump is just around the corner from school.  I think we should get it chopped down and moved to our new woodland so it can rot down and form a habitat. It looks like it must have been massive at some point and there doesn't seem to be anything similar it was never part of an avenue. Be nice to know how old it is.  I am now working on getting positive about the trees project,  It is strange as I have become a grumpy person when it comes to climate change.  Perhaps its because I was doing projects about carbon and global warming in the early 90s and I have come to the end of things.  This does not feel like me really- I still should have some bounce left in my bungee. I have thought about what has changed for me and it relates to the scale of the actions which seem to often come down to personal decisions and the scale of the problem.  In some ways I have fallen out of love with the idea that doing something is always better than doing nothin...

I remember the 1987 storm. I was up in an attic room in North London in my communal house and all night the wind screamed.  In the morning I wandered into Russell Square and the pavements were full of twigs. It was like the trees had taken over London. Lots of trees that people were really fond of had fallen down and it was a moment when the trees really became in the news.  The storms now are more about water - Hebden Bridge floods because the deforestation on the tops has led to fast water flow down the hills - the snow melt on Saturday led to the flood on Sunday.  I am on strike today which is good as then I can mess about and think about trees. 

  This week was all about children and trees. On Monday and Tuesday we went into the school and here are some of the things I learned: 1. Insects and trees are something related. We talked about mosquitos and bees living in trees. Also streams and bridges and slides. Trees are related to activity.  2. Trees shelter you and bugs sit in trees. Cockroaches and spiders encircle them. Trees are for day dreaming and also for shelter and shade and picnics and running and tag and hide and seek.  3. Trees are spaces for meditation, wishes and blossoms. They might have fruit. They contain and encircle us and also provide something to go up into and sit in.  Following on from our conversation about new materialism and trees I am wondering if we could start writing about trees, but drawing on some of the children's ideas, and write some of it with them, using our Research Creation article as a starting point? This could also be another team blog - I haven't been on the Trees200 ...