Community

by Frances Murphy

Peter Wohlleben, in his book “The Hidden Life of Trees” describes trees as “social” individuals who care for each other, nourish each other, and keep each other alive. He writes, “[t]he reason trees share food and communicate is that they need each other. . . . Perhaps the saddest plants of all are those we have enslaved in our agricultural systems. They . . . have lost the ability to communicate and are thus rendered deaf and dumb.” We must not lose our connections to our fellow beings.