Auteur: Jack P. Kruf

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From Tree to Shining Tree

A forest can feel like a place of great stillness and quiet. But if you dig a little deeper, there’s a hidden world beneath your feet as busy and complicated as a city at rush hour.

In this story, a dog introduces us to a strange creature that burrows beneath forests, building an underground network where deals are made and lives are saved (and lost) in a complex web of friendships, rivalries, and business relations. It’s a network that scientists are only just beginning to untangle and map, and it’s not only turning our understanding of forests upside down, it’s leading some researchers to rethink what it means to be intelligent.

Produced by Annie McEwen and Brenna Farrell. Special Thanks to Latif Nasser, Stephanie Tam, Teresa Ryan, Marc Guttman, and Professor Nicholas P. Money at Miami University.

Listen

“Suzanne Simard:

The fungus has this incredible network of tubes that it’s able to send out through the soil, and draw up water and mineral nutrients that the tree needs.

Latif:

Wait. I thought, I thought tree roots just sort of did, like, I thought, I always imagined tree roots were kind of like straws. Like, the tree was, like, already doing that stuff by itself, but it’s the fungus that’s doing that stuff?

Jennifer:

Yes, in a lot of cases it is the fungus. Because tree roots and a lot of plant roots are not actually very good at doing what you think they’re doing.

Robert Krulwich:

She says the tree can only suck up what it needs through these — mostly through the teeny tips of its roots, and that’s not enough bandwidth.

Jad A.:

Wait. So, okay. So the fungus is giving the tree the minerals.

Robert Krulwich:

Yeah.

Jad A.:

What is the tree given back to the fungus?

Robert Krulwich:

Remember I told you how trees makes sugar?

Jad A.:

Yeah.

Robert Krulwich:

So that’s what the tree gives the fungus. Sugar.

Jennifer:

The fungi needs sugar to build their bodies, the same way that we use our food to build our bodies.

Suzanne Simard:

They can’t photosynthesize. They can’t take up CO2. And so they have this trading system with trees.”

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Een bos moet oud mogen worden, vinden bosbouwers

Bron: Trouw

“Om de bossen klimaatbestendiger te maken sturen bosbouwers nu eigen voorstellen aan de politiek. Bossen waarin bomen oud worden en vergaan zijn nodig om de rijkdom aan soorten planten en dieren te herstellen, schrijven ze.”

De Nederlandse bosbouwsector pleit bij minister Carola Schouten (landbouw en natuur) voor grootschalige bosaanleg op rijke gronden, zoals moerassige bodems. De afbraak en kaalkap van het Nederlandse bos moet snel stoppen, vinden bouwers, wetenschappers en beheerders. De miljarden aan subsidie op de productie van energie uit biomassa moet worden vervangen door financiële steun voor het gebruik van meer hout uit Nederlandse bossen in de bouw. Lees meer

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The ability of democracy

Quote by Al Gore

“It is now apparent that the climate crisis is posing an unprecedented threat not only to the future livability of the planet but also to our assumptions about the ability of democracy and capitalism to recognize this threat for what it is and respond with appropriate boldness, scope, and urgency. Global warming has been described as the greatest market failure in history. It is also—so far—the biggest failure of democratic governance in history.”

From: Our Choice: Changing the way we think (Chapter 14), 2009.

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A short reflection on democracy and leadership

I was thinking about democracy and leadership… reading the present news about the many presidents, generals and prime ministers… in one way or another chosen by the people or sometimes even not chosen but directly or indirectly appointed by the majority of their formed political party or even by a wing within this (not per se and most of the time not a majority of the electorate)…

I remembered this dialogue from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975):

King Arthur:
I am your king.

Woman:
Well I didn’t vote for you.

King Arthur:
You don’t vote for kings.

Woman:
Well how’d you become king then?

King Arthur:
The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.

Dennis:
Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

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The essence of reflection

Kruf, Louise G.S. (2009). Breda.

‘Reflection’ is in fact zooming out in trying to connect the dots. Or as Alexander von Humboldt stated in 1858 (Cosmos part I) in connecting the dots between the different sciences: “Physical geography…, elevated to a higher point of view, … embraces the sphere of organic life…”. That was a great discovery. He was in fact the first ecologist with a holistic view on the natural environment. Darwin adored him.

In the same way the ecosystem of the public domain as well as its governance, can be reflected upon. Zooming out is reflection.

Some say reflection is needed to get the bigger picture of things, people and happenings or to develop a sabbatical and clear view. For some people reflection works as a catharsis or to “re-create” itself and one’s thoughts. For others it is just a way to find another perspective.  Anyway reflection can help us to get the bigger picture, see more sharply the connection of elements within the public domain and thereby contribute to better decision making and putting things in perspective.