Under the Canopy
Bristlecone pine by Eric Utne (from Dark Mountain: Issue 9)
‘Our ancestors came from the canopy, and – given our species’ reliance on trees to make our world habitable – in many ways we never left it. Or it never left us.’
This ongoing section is an invitation for writers and artists to explore the effects that trees have on us, from tree protests in England and India, to forest fires in Australia and California, to ancient chestnut in Sicily to the first palm to be felled on an Indonesian island. Welcome to the woods.
The Fungus Among Us
Annekawilliams24
22nd February, 2023
This week scientist and writer Anneka Williams delves into the underground world of the largest organism, a pathogenic fungus stretching for miles in the soil of an Oregon forest.
Spaces Between Branches
Nastassja Noell
20th July, 2022
For our Under the Canopy series: Lichenologist Nastassja Noell takes her paint box into the forest and perceives our relationship with trees and life from a radically different perspective
Fine Particles of Brilliant Forests, Burning
Becca Rose Hall and Rosalie Chapple
14th September, 2020
As catastrophic fires continue to rage through West coast in the US and the wetlands of Brazil, a lament for the burning of wild lives of the forests in Washington and Australia.
Enter: Thunder, Fire, Smoke and Relearning New Languages
Sara Jolena Wolcott M.Div
2nd September, 2020
As lightning strikes California and the ancient forests burn, Sara Jolena Walcott gives a searing report on the re-forming of Earth and the urgent work of decolonisation.
How Green is My Forest
Suprabha Seshan
21st May, 2020
Today from our Under the Canopy section, conservationist and writer Suprabha Seshan takes us into the 'zillion-beinged' forest of the Western Ghats. With paintings by Meena Subramaniam
Heartwood
Sophia Patane
2nd April, 2020
Second post for this month's Under the Canopy section. Sophia Patane looks at the shifting fortunes of the eastern white pine by the St Croix river, Minnesota
When Trees First Grew on Earth
Mark Martin
25th March, 2020
Reflecting on the entwining destinies of trees and human beings, Mark Martin delves into deep time and poetry for our Under the Canopy section