#ScenicSaturday 3rd February 2024:

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography

This continuing series depicts our beautiful world, encouraging viewers to share them and help save our unique home from human carelessness and indifference.

Today’s photo is from the Forest of Dean. Tall trees convey a sense of wonder, a feeling of permanence, peace, and tranquillity. We wonder what they might tell us if only we could communicate with them, their long lives inspiring us to imagine their days filled with knowledge of things past.

Yet we treat them as expendable, useful for timber to build with, or as invaders occupying land we’d rather use to grow more cattle to feed our greedy appetite for red meat, or as weeds on land we wish to build more of our homes on.

Mature individuals can absorb from 10kg (22lbs) to 40kg (88lbs) of carbon dioxide per year, returning oxygen to the atmosphere in the process. They also filter out pollutants to make the toxic air of cities more breathable, and provide shade for animals and us. Some give fruit, others nuts, and most trees provide an ecosystem capable of supporting many other life forms. A mature oak, for example, might sustain up to 2,300 different species.

Yet we fell them willy-nilly, often for utterly pointless reasons. Maybe it’s time we valued them for their life-preserving qualities?

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Please comment, like, and share these posts so the joy of natural beauty is spread to as many people as possible. It will help us save the environment.
I post every Saturday here, but also post a different picture of natural beauty at the end of most days, with the hashtag , on FaceBook, and on the newer social media platform, BlueSkySocial. Join me there and comment, share, and like as you wish.

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14 thoughts on “#ScenicSaturday 3rd February 2024:”

  1. Pingback: #ScenicSaturday 3rd February 2024: | In the Net! – Pictures and Stories of Life

  2. Your comment that you wonder what trees would say if they could communicate reminded me of this research:
    https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6258598
    https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6758773

    I’ve done a lot of reading about how the beef industry is leading to a significant amount of our pollution. For this reason (as well as a health issue) I’ve become an almost total vegetarian. Industrial pig and chicken farms also cause a lot of pollution but the beef industry’s contribution is stunning.
    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cow-burps-are-a-major-contributor-to-climate-change-can-scientists-change-that

    Lovely photo.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Lynette. The podcasts links are currently not working, but the app knows about that and is working to fix it!
      The other link is fine and I’ve shared it. I’ve been aware of the link between cattle and methane for a longtime. It’s one of the reasons I eat beef only rarely. It’s good to be able to share this information so others are aware of the reality of their food choices.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Hi Stuart, I just checked both of the first two links and they are working from this end. I’m not an IT person and sometimes find these sorts of issues baffling!
        As I’ve become older I find myself leaning away more and more from meat and fish consumption. Our planet can’t sustain these levels, the industrial fish and meat farms are appalling and consuming so much of it causes many health problems, which is another sustainability challenge. Our urge to consume will wind up consuming us too if we don’t grow up about it.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Sorry, I wasn’t as specific in my comment as I should have been. It’s the link from the site to Facebook that’s faulty – I get this notice (App not active: This app is not currently accessible and the app developer is aware of the issue. You will be able to log in when the app is reactivated.) when I try to share it.
          I agree about the industrialisation of our food, especially the utter carelessness and cruelty involved in getting meat and fish onto our tables. We evolved, of course, as omnivores, and for some people there are significant dietary issues if they fail to eat animal products. But if everyone who eats these things simply reduces their intake it would make a great difference.
          Yes, in almost every field in which we operate, we overconsume. It’s as though most people haven’t a clue that we live in a limited space, the planet, with limited resources. As every scientist knows, it’s impossible to have continuous growth in a fixed space. Yet we humans have expanded our population to a size that now needs 2-3 planets of resources to sustain us. Impossible, of course. If we fail to curb our excesses, the natural world will do it for us, and it won’t be too concerned about our survival as a species.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Thanks for explaining the tech, Stuart.
            I agree completely. The natural world will eventually take us out if we don’t learn to curb ourselves. And unfortunately, I sometimes think that’s maybe what we deserve.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. I understand that response, Lynette. I think many believe we don’t really deserve to continue as a species. But I look around me at the amazing beneficial things we have produced as a species and wish with all my heart we could concentrate on that aspect of our creativity and really double down on the negative, destructive elements of our species’ makeup.

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              1. I don’t always feel that way, Stuart. But I think we’re again witnessing the worldwide rise of what I see as lunatic right-wing power seekers. When I cast a cold eye on that situation, it feels pretty hopeless that we will ever learn to drop most of the negative. Most of the time though I feel that this is just part of a necessary learning curve.

                Liked by 1 person

                1. Yes. The right-wing has ever been a refuge for those who see themselves as superior and entitled. Unfortunately, so many people are so badly educated they fail to understand the reality of right-wing politics and philosophy. Often these supporters are taken in by the rhetoric and dogma and believe they wish to follow in those footsteps without ever considering the consequences. It’s the only explanation of how a vile individual like Trump can attract voters, when even the most basic analysis of the man and his actions shows just how superficial, divisive, selfish, and destructive he is.
                  I’ve always been an optimist, but recently my hope that the best of humanity will prevail has taken a severe pounding. No matter, I’ll continue to keep that hope alive.

                  Liked by 1 person

                  1. I couldn’t agree more, especially with what you say about Trump. From our perch here in Canada it looks like he’s going to win, and if he does, that country will likely descend into civil war since it’s almost certain that he won’t be pried out of that office when his time is up. Leader of the free world, indeed.
                    We have a couple of so-called leaders who have been emboldened by Trump’s approach and are trying to whip up the wingnut right wing, but so far, they’re mostly in check. I’m concerned that they could go further, however.
                    Agreed, though. Hope has to stay alive.

                    Liked by 1 person

  3. The developer of our community leveled all the trees. We occupants are busy replanting trees but they did the same thing now that they are expanding. It’s very depressing. I am lucky that our house stands next to the one grove of trees they didn’t take down. We chose the lot deliberately because we feed tons of birds.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. It’s such a shame, Noelle, when developers fell trees in order to clear space for more houses, and they do so without any concern for the future, it seems. Of course, one of the problems the world faces is the increasing population of humans, all of whom need somewhere to live. But there are usually pleany of brown field sites available for building, rather than this short-sighted destruction of natural forest. Profit, as always, comes before anything else, unfortunately.

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