A small bookstore in Point Reyes Station, a coastal town in West Marin, California, was the first to invite Suzanne Simard for a conversation. Three days earlier, on May 4, her book had been published. Finding the Mother Tree, Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, has already become a best-seller.
Suzanne Simard was born in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia and grew up in an old growth forest. She was educated at the University of British Columbia and Oregon State University; and is now Professor of Forest Ecology in the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry.
Over 1,000 people participated on the Zoom book release hosted by David Haskell. He is professor of biology and environmental studies at the University of the South and author of The Forest Unseen and essays, op-eds, and poetry.
Point Reyes Books called Suzanne Simard a pioneer of plant communication and intelligence; much like Rachel Carson. Simard, they say, writes in inspiring, and accessible ways, how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved; how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about the future; elicit warnings and mount defenses, cooperate and compete with one another with sophistication. All characteristics ascribed only to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies. And at the center of it all stand the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them.
The one hour film of the conversation is posted on Youtube The link can be found on the website of Point Reyes Books. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yRiN876lZw
DATE: 2021/05/07
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)
