Greengasm : Tree planting as Enlightenment

[Bright Garlick]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=aY_zuNtf3_g

OK sure I conned you a little on using the word enlightenment. I don't believe in the concept. But perhaps tree planting can open one up to the greatest possible awareness.

I feel compelled to share with you a little of my own spiritual journey and how tree planting opened my awareness and helped me to heal the misperception that I am separate from god.

As a young boy I roamed around the bare hills of suburb called Elizabeth East in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. We used to live at the foot of the hills and I had to walk a long way to reach the tree line - which had been cleared for farming decades before. Our suburb was surrounded by a small forest and I spent many a days in there catching snakes and lizards and just generally enjoying myself. Now days the suburbs follow the contours of the hills and into where the forest used to be.

We left Adelaide when I was 10 and left for Hong Kong, where my dad was a flight engineer. My parents split and for a while I went back and lived with my grandparents near a little town near a larger town called Bathurst in New South Wales. I spent many of my days roaming the hills, catching snakes and lizards and poking my eyes and fingers into every hole I could find. I wanted to be like my hero Harry Butler (who has since his program In the Wild, managed to lead petroleum and mining companies to think with environmental balls). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Butler

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SMVCXPAkh1A

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=b_JSw79dV1g

Later when I was in boarding school in Sydney I found myself escaping the hell of institutionalism to the freedom of the surrounding forest (some of which has since been sold off for suburbs). When I went back to Hong Kong for holidays I had the opportunity to roam islands and forests and jungles that were worlds apart from the forests of Australia. I was also able to live in a city with 7 million people and to visit the most densely populated places on Earth – including the legendary Walled City in the middle of Kowloon City. I had the opportunity to see how people live when they are deprived of vegetation and squeezed into a concrete box. As much as I loved Hong Kong, I missed magpies and gum trees and the Australian landscape. Later when I left NSW and went onto University in Victoria, I discovered another beautiful forest – a place that would in many ways save me from the darkest of my despair. It was while I was here studying science in 1989 that I first began to study plant physiology and to learn about man made global warming (a theory I rejected in 2000 in preference of of the solar model of climate change). One day while our plant physiology class was out in the bush I picked an orchid and our professor screamed at me in front of the entire class. She was touchy about damaging the environment, despite the fact that a new suburb was coming up on the other side of the hill and mining companies had turned the town inside out. I understand her intent but I never understood her fanaticism.

5 years later I found myself living on my own farm. I began collecting plant samples for a Herbarium – I practice I have continue to this day. Wherever I go I collect plants. I never name them. I keep them for their beauty.

Living on a farm helped me to understand both life and death. We experienced great suffering and great joy. I had to put down hundreds of animals in times of drought and disease. I always covered their faces last. Every day I walked around the farm. I touched the trees and looked at everything. On a nearby mountain I discovered thousands of Aboriginal carvings and sky calendars and the mountain became my teacher. I soon began collecting seeds from the mountain. Down in the plains where we lived, much of the vegetation was gone. Apart from the creek line behind our property, there were very few trees and hardly any small bushes. Every year I went back to the mountain to collect seed. I planted what I could on the mountain and on the farm. For a few years I planted trees on the farm. I watered them every day through the summer. One year during a drought most of them died. Years later we left the farm and moved to the coast. I cried and I cried and I ached from a wound that nothing could heal. The coast was green but there were hardly any trees – only European species that farmers had planted in rows as wind breaks. As beautiful as it might be, the land is a green desert. A few years after I was diagnosed with cancer. When I had recovered from losing my kidney, some 6 months later – I left the social work field and found a job coordinating Landcare networks over an area about 10,000 km2. My primary role was to coordinate support for our 10 member groups and to develop and implement on ground projects. During my 2 years with the group I didn't achieve nearly as much as I wanted to. I was responsible for seeing 100,000 + plants in the ground and for initiating a series of novel of environmental projects that have continued to this day. But I left, very dissatisfied. I felt used, abused and I unhappy. All I really wanted was to get outdoors and plant trees and study wildlife. But most of the time I spent writing funding applications and reports. I had became an administrator and I hated it. But along the way I learned some very valuable lessons. I learned that I can talk to anyone. I learned that I can befriend a timid school child as easily as I can befriend a high flying environmental somebody. I learned that I can transform how people feel about an experience. I learned that I can plant the seeds of what can be. I learned that most farmers think of conservation as setting up a 2-10 m shelter belt of trees and couldn't give a **** about biodiversity. I learned that Australia's biodiversity is ****ed, unless our attitudes to land and production change. Mostly I learned that I hate being stuck at a desk working on paperwork and being taken for granted and I love being connected to the natural world. I was also witness to Fox Studios haggling with senior environmental staff over their unwillingness to pay what it costs to fund their HOME TREE Project, after the release of Avatar. Fox Studios did what it took to get out of their donation pledge cheaply – for as much publicity as they could get. Anyone who knows the film Avatar will know how crazy that seems. They were the corporate pigs they showed up in Avatar.

Eventually we grew tired of the coast with it's predictable rainfall and it's green desert and yearned to see trees again. So we moved to a National Park, where we are surrounded by trees. Even though the risk of fire, floods and landslides is great, I feel more alive here than ever.

When I look back over my life, trees and forest and mountains have brought me great joy. It is only when I am in these environments that I am truly myself. Through my experiences with the land I have come to understand the many cycles of life and death. I have become comfortable with my own mortality by watching the dying and the dead and seeing how nature recycles everything. Everywhere there is constant rebirth – from one season to another. After fire, new growth. After flood, new growth. After storms, new growth. Populations ebb and flow in response to changes in weather and the conditions of the Earth. But everywhere, the natural world depends on the soil and the trees.

I have been collecting native and introduced seeds since 1994. My small, humble 42 acre farm is now covered in trees and shrubs, as is the 30 acres of creek line that adjoins it. When we moved here into the mountains and my cancer came back aggressively, I realised that although I no longer live on my farm or have the opportunity to visit my favourite mountain, I can continue to plant trees and so for the last 4 years I have been collecting local native species and planting seeds all through out the forest. I do it because I love doing it. No one (until now) knows about it. I don't even need to know if plants grew. I plant them with love, say a few kind words and then walk away. Sometimes I'll come across what was once a barren patch and I'll know but mostly I never know. This year I decided that I would become far more strategic and focus on specific areas that are damaged.

I have also continued to collect seeds from other places and non native species. Mostly when I plant I choose local endemic species. But somewhere in my mind I have this fantasy that maybe one day I'll own another farm and have the chance to revegetate it. If I can I will create a small area where I will try to plant as many Australian natives as I can. The inspiration for this came from the novel Eucalyptus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_(novel) ) - which is about a farmer who proposes that any man who can name every Eucalypt on his property can wed his daughter. I guess in a way I would love to create a small island of Australia in the middle of such a farm. I would also like to plant a forest of European trees. But of course I would restore the remainder and the majority of the land with local providence. So, anyway its a fantasy but one I am particularly fond of.

I also used to eat fruit whenever I went out for a walk along the empty paths of the green desert. Whenever I could I would plant these seeds, so that in time fruit trees would adorn the long paths and weary travellers would have fruit to eat. As they travelled and shade under which to rest. In our part of the world, fruit trees grow slowly and pose little threat as an invasive species.

So I am a fanatical collector of seeds. I collect them from everywhere – from the country and the city. Some of the best trees are in botanical gardens in the middle of towns and cities. I store most of my seed, plant some of them where they belong and hold out for my fantasy – a fantasy I hold lightly, without too much attachment ! In recent years I have also begun renewing my love of growing fruit and vegetables. After I left the farm I let it all go. Years of drought and locusts killed my dream of self sufficiency. As did my growing unwillingness to kill our own meat. But now that I have much more time on my hands (thank you tumours !), I am trying my best to grow my own vegetables and herbs. Kangaroo, Wallabies, deer and cockatoos make it very difficult though and so it is a painful labour of love. For the last few years I have been collecting vegetable seeds and recently began buying as many varieties as I could. In time I would like to have some 150-200 varieties of vegetables and herbs growing. It may mean leaving the mountains and the ongoing attack of the wildlife.

Planting seeds and seedlings has utterly transformed my life. On a household level, gardening has given me an intimate connection with dirt (something I also learned from dung beetles and the dung beetle expert John Feehan (http://dungbeetleexpert.com.au/about-john-feehan).

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=99VB90ze-Zc

The wonder of watching something grow is beyond words and those of you who are gardeners will know what I mean by the joy of gardening. But planting trees (or shrubs or grasses) is on another level entirely. When you plant a tree you have the opportunity to see an entire landscape come alive. I've watched places that were bare mountainsides with rock and sand turn into forests with detritus and birds. There is no greater lift to biodiversity than the availability of trees and water. Trees cleanse ground water, create micro climates and increase water retention in the soil and above ground. As an example, a single gum tree can house hundreds of species of invertebrates, several species of marsupials and provide shelter and nesting for dozens of species of birds. One tree can change an entire paddock. Small corridors of trees allow animals the opportunity to migrate between habitable areas, food and water. Imagine what a forest can do ?

Now days when I walk in the forest in the mountains I have the opportunity to mostly see a healthy ecosystem – with everything from rocks and soils, to a diversity of mosses, fungi, lichen, plants, invertebrates , mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds. And whenever I visited a place that is damaged the contrast is breath taking and utterly shocking. To see something that is healthy and something that is not, utterly transforms how you see the human presence on Earth. And everybody knows this. When people grow accustomed to the natural world, they're healthier in every possible way and they begin to care about what's around them. They realise that they are not separate. You cannot hold your breath without realising that. Not only do trees recycle carbon dioxide into oxygen, there seems to be ample evidence to back up the ancient Chinese and Indian philosophies that trees facilitate the exchange of energy between heaven and Earth. Trees play a fundamental role in the regulation of weather and climate and in the regulation of atmospheric gasses. Ancient trees provide us with oil and gas and power our world. Trees provide us with wood and paper and fuel with which we create our entire civilisation.

In my life I have slept under trees, meditated under trees, climbed trees, fallen out of trees, hugged trees, cut down trees, bandaged trees, talked to trees, held onto trees as I have connected with them energetically and psychicly and asked them for help, thanked trees and enjoyed the majesty and beauty of trees. But above all the most important thing I have done is to plant trees. The are one of the great loves of my life. And yet I wonder how so many people can remain ignorant and uncaring of them.

I know that I am not alone in my love of trees and planting seeds. There are many of you here. But there are many others here, who remain unaware of the joy of tree planting and the joy of transforming landscapes.

Planting trees is easy. You can help by growing trees for an urban or rural tree planting group. You can start or join a Landcare group or other environmental group or join a planting day. You can join a gardening group – specialising in fruit trees, vegetables, herbs or all of them. Or perhaps you'd like to collect seeds. There are seed collectors groups all around the world. You can join a group or go it alone. You can learn all about the plants you collect, when to collect them, where to collect them and every little detail you need to know about the the plants. Or you can learn about the plants as I do, by walking in the forests and grasslands and studying how they live and how they relate to their environment and one another. You don't have to know the name of anything. And in fact you learn more about some thing’s true nature by connecting with it without a name. A thing is not it's name. I find the seeds when they are ready, dry them in paper bags, store them in zippable plastic bags or small plastic bottles and plant them when I am ready. But sometimes I plant them as I walk, stopping here and there – throwing some, burying others. The joy is in the act of being connected and in learning to truly feel a part of the landscape. . The outcome doesn't matter. And yet when the outcome is good, the reward is great. I can think of no greater reward, other than the joy of raising a child into adulthood.

The feeling of planting a forest is all about the feeling of creation. And in many ways I understand how god or our ET friends feel. In many ways I feel as if I am just doing what god made me to do. Life begets life with absolute love, when there is an absence of fear or attachment.

If I have one aspiration in life, it is to plant as many forests as I can and be remembered for none of them – except by the forest itself !

Nature is truly the healing agent !

Oh, and anyone who says that the population problem is just a myth, knows nothing about trees or the REAL WORLD.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=88ESyyk24hw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Planted_Trees
http://web.archive.org/web/200710190...sia/indfor.htm
http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...hants-red-ants
http://dandakaranya.com/
http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/...p?page_id=8252
http://www.pitara.com/magazine/featu....asp?story=154
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadav_Payeng
http://www.ecotourismsociety.in/real-eco-heroes
http://www.humanitywatchdog.org/film...ing-life-2013/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_for_the_Future
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Appleseed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Nease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7000_Oaks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Beuys
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion_Tree_Campaign
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Belt_Movement
http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/
http://www.jgi-shanghai.org/index.php/english/
http://treesforthefuture.orgabout/
http://www.seedingvictoria.com.au/index.php
http://www.daff.gov.au/natural-resources/landcare
http://www.nrm.gov.au/
http://www.landcareonline.com.au/
http://www.treeproject.asn.au/
http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/...ieldmanual.pdf

[WhiteFeather]

Heartfelt story Bright. Not to sidetrack this thread but your written words from this thread IMO is the reason why you have personal contact with our celestial friends. Your true and pure connection to all that is of this Earth and the Law of One/ Natural Law has attracted our celestial friends to you. When your vibration and pureness of heart is ready, then they will make an appearance. Thanks for sharing this.

We are All 1 Tribe

W.f.

[Bright Garlick]

Thanks WhiteFeather - interesting you should say that. I have always felt that to be true and when I interviewed Preston Dennett - he said that his research showed that there are many typical behaviours in contactees and abductees. One of them been an interest in social justice (social work etc) and tree planting. I can't help thinking that a pure love for the planet is a trait our ET friends seek to nurture in our species. Logical really.

May you be well and happy,

Falcon Who Soars.

[Marianne]

Bright, I feel your title is apt -- the green world of nature is one path to enlightenment.
Thanks for sharing your story. And the links, oh my ...

I worked with a group in Zimbabwe, and one of the most important goals was to teach people about planting native vegetation, and ways to work with the climate and land (such as making rain catchments for the dry months). They had started an agricultural school. There had been war and famine for so long, that people had forgotten how to plant seeds. It was exciting to see the rebirth of these fundamentals.

Here are a couple of links, if you don't mind me putting them here.

The Arbor Day folks have teaching videos on how to plant trees.
http://www.arborday.org/trees/video/howToPlant.cfm

The Tree People help local U.S. communities organize tree plantings and educate people.
http://www.treepeople.org/plant-trees-0

I expect there are groups in each country with similar goals and initiatives.

[Bright Garlick]

Thanks Marianne.
The group/program you were involved with sounds wonderful and I imagine it had an incredible impact on the people and the landscape and on you !!!! One can only imagine the impact that program has now had and will continue to have.

I think this kind of work - whether it's by ourselves or in working with groups (especially in places that have been ravaged by war, famine and or poverty) - is so important. It really is empowering people towards self governance and taking responsibility for their own future. Every society has it's own wisdom about agriculture and about it's own natural landscape but to be a catalyst for the sharing of knowledge and igniting the fire in the belly to seize back what has been lost, is so fundamental to the future of many places and many people on Earth.

One of the projects I helped set up (I was the ideas man and the connector) involved working with welfare agencies and groups to encourage people who were disadvantaged in some way to connect with the natural world through environmental projects. I think it was a first for Australia. The original idea I put up for the project, was to give people who didn't normally have the opportunity to be involved in environmental work, the opportunity to be involved in :
Revegetation works
Weed mapping & weed work
Seed collecting & native nursery work
Bird Searching & Frog Searching
Flora & Fauna mapping
Environmental photography/film & visual archiving
Environmental podcasting
The creation of an environmental story telling archives
The creation of environmental art related projects.

I have not stayed in touch with the program but I have noticed that other similar programs are slowly starting to pop up around the world. Of course the benefits to people involved in this kind of work are incredible. People who are normally home bound with depression, suddenly feel a sense of purpose. People with disabilities, suddenly feel like society values them. And so on.

As you say, there is a rebirth of the fundamentals and it is so important to the transformation of our species and our planet. Maybe in many ways, it is a path to enlightenment and at the very least a path to the transformation of our consciousness.

Sounds like you did some great work in Africa and I'm a little envious !!!

Be well, Bright.

http://www.treesforthefuture.org/
http://www.treesforthefuture.org/wp-...-2013-3-29.pdf
http://www.edenprojects.org/
http://www.groundwork.org.uk/our-wor...er-places.aspx

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=kGdN8F_igVo

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AfbM-DNMnNg

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0pKFUjz37XI

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pIkk3b2soa8

[Bright Garlick]

This is a brief silent doco of a man who really did grow a forest all on his own.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fuvzoD42-Vw

[WhiteFeather]

Once we can truly become a complete connectdness with nature and only as a part to such, then a true connectdness with all beings from the universe we can then share. If you build your spiritual character they will come. I have often pondered this often Bright. Especially personally changing my carniverous diet to herbiverous. I believe this indeed could be a personal Connection, Key or a Protocol in attraction to them. Getting our auric field cleansed is a plus as well. Im quite sure their spiritual levels operate at such compassion to The Law of One. I remember Alex Collier mentioned something in one of his interviews from The Andromedans saying that humans have some stenchy auric fields. Could they be referencing our intake of animals?Anywho Great stuff Bright. Much Asquali Kola