Dear Friends,
We are thrilled to share with you this deeply personal story from Dr. Suzanne Simard, the world’s leading forest ecologist who forever changed how we view trees, our connections to one another, and to all living things in the forest. Her debut book, Finding The Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, is out today and is, as a Booklist starred review put it, “a masterwork of planetary significance.”
Suzanne is doing the most cutting-edge research on plant communication and intelligence. Her work has inspired authors and filmmakers alike, from the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar to the main character in Richard Powers’ Overstory. In Finding the Mother Tree, she speaks for herself in ways both personal and profound. She writes of her own unique journey as a mother, a former logger, and an iconoclastic scientist. She reveals how trees, living side-by-side for hundreds of years, evolve and communicate. At the center of it all are Mother Trees: mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain all the life that surrounds them.
Suzanne’s work inspires us, and through the wisdom of the forest, teaches us how we can flourish in harmony with nature. In celebration of the book’s release today, we are sharing with you a simple exercise from Suzanne below—a chance to connect with the nature around you straightaway.
Here’s to a year of more connection,
Ty, Rachel, Doug, Staci, Esme, Jordan, Stacie, Mariah, and Lara.
