Forests

[Ugo Bardi]

Dear colleagues,

this is a little off-topic, but I would invite you to take a look to this clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfQJZ76WR0U

The baroque music of Jean-Philippe Rameau ("Les Indes Galantes," 1736) coupled with modern street dance. The result is nearly mind-boggling. The main words say

Pleasant Forests, pleasant forests

Heaven, heaven, you made them

For innocence and for peace

And I think the deepest point of the issue is that we must feel, deeply, something for forests, otherwise people will continue to consider them only a source of wood, with trees having value only after they are cut. This clip shows that some people in the early 18th century already saw forests as a source of life and peace, and some still do.

And, perhaps, in this difficult moment, this poor West, so disoriented, so battered, so uncertain, and so sad, still may have something good to say to the rest of the world.

UB

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***********************************
Prof. Ugo Bardi
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Firenze, Italy
Full member of The Club of Rome
Registered Expert of the United Nations "Harmony With Nature" Programme
Chief Editor of "Biophysical Economics and Sustainabilty," a Springer Journal
Delegato del Rettore per la gestione della Rete Università Sostenibili (RUS)
ugo....@unifi.it
www.cassandralegacy.blogspot.com
www.theproudholobionts.blogspot.com

[JUAN FERNANDO SALAZAR VILLEGAS]

Dear Ugo and colleagues,

This is beautiful Ugo, thank you for sharing. It made me remember some lines from the Andrea Wulf's book on Humbolt: "The Invention of Nature". This is a fragment from Humbolt's notes (I have the book in Spanish, my informal translation of some lines is below):

"When forests are destroyed, [...], water springs run dry or become less abundant. River channels that remain dry during parts of the year are transformed into torrents every time heavy rains fall on the mountains. Grasses and mosses disappear from the mountains slopes [...], and hence the water from the rainfall finds no obstacle on its way down: and instead of gradually increasing the level of the rivers through gradual seepage, it forms [erosion] furrows on the slopes, drags loose soil, and produces flash floods that destroy the country"

Best,

Juan

 

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Juan F. Salazar
Profesor Asociado, Escuela Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería
[Associate Professor, School of Environment, Faculty of Engineering]
Universidad de Antioquia

Medellín, Colombia

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[Pokorný Jan]

The book on A.Humboldt by Andrea Wulf was translated in our language (Czech). I like it very much. In Prolog (cit 17) we can redd how trees/forest cool

Best regards

Jan

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[Anastassia Makarieva]

Dear colleagues,

As Ugo mentioned, "the deepest point of the issue is that we must feel, deeply, something for forests, otherwise people will continue to consider them only a source of wood, with trees having value only after they are cut."

I count myself among those who feel something for forests, but I dare to disagree with Ugo. Most people today will never have a chance to see forests, or even artificial woods. If they are provided with such a chance, that will be a disaster for forests, because we are too many. It is highly fortunate for the remaining forests that modern people are not eager to spend their time in forests preferring urban environments instead.

In my view,  the main hope for forests is human reason, not feelings. Reason and rational thinking, this is what unites people across cultures, not their spiritual beliefs or customs, that often do the opposite, creating hostility. And I believe that this is what the West, as the champion of science, can ultimately offer to the world to save forests. We must explain to even those who hate trees that normal human existence will not be possible anywhere on Earth once the remaining forests are lost.

Regarding music, I am of the opinion that classical music (which I think is the top moment of musical culture) flourished precisely at a critical time when rational thinking developed to a sufficient degree for humans to realize their increasing detachment from nature. At this point of self-consciousness, people felt very sharply that they are losing something very important. This high thrill was what gave the classical music its depth and transformative appeal. It is like looking into a precipice.

Victor revealed me that some Chaikovsky's melodies straightforwardly encode birdsongs. In Russia this cultural "farewell to nature" happened many decades later than in the West. A passionate musician himself, Victor used to say that classical music is a drug that allows people to forget their unnatural environment and immerse into an illusion of being in nature.

Just thoughts.

Best wishes,

Anastassia

сб, 20 февр. 2021 г. в 12:17, Pokorný Jan <pok...@enki.cz>:

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