Trees

Following on from the recent Tree Week event in the UK, what recent research reveals about our relationship with trees.

Dec 11, 2024

Hello. Welcome back to Compassionate Nature, the free weekly research digest of recently published research relating to psychological aspects around nature connection and compassion.

The break in publishing mentioned in the last digest has been much longer than envisaged, resulting in the first anniversary of the Compassionate Nature Substack slipping by during November without much notice. That will have to be rectified in 2025 when hopefully the second anniversary arrives. So onto this week’s edition, which helps celebrate an element of nature many people seem to have special affinity with, in all its varied shape and forms - the natural wonders that are trees.

“Rain may fall, and wind may blow
And many miles be still to go
But under a tall tree will I lie
And let the clouds go sailing by”

The hobbits in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings celebrate trees during their riotous drinking song, although it is not really the weather currently in the UK to lie under a tree, although the cover from the rain, wind and recent snow might provide a welcome refuge.

However it is the weather in the UK for planting trees, with the tree planting season heralded by the Tree Council’s National Tree Week event, which ran from 23rd November to 1st December. Across the week a number of events were held by the Tree Council and partners such as the Woodland Trust, the National Trust, the RHS and RSPB, to celebrate trees with local communities, volunteer groups and councils. My local council was again running an annual give away of free saplings to households to encourage people to plant a tree in their garden.

green tree on grassland during daytime — Photo by Johann Siemens on Unsplash

Trees are astounding in the breadth of their form, size and especially age. The tallest tree species is the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) at around 116 metres (380 feet), while the smallest is the dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) which grows to around only 6 centimetres (just over 2 inches). The oldest tree alive with a verified age is a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus Longaeva) at around 4,865 years old. However that is a youngster compared to a Norway spruce (Picea abies) which is estimated to be over 9,500 years old.

In addition to the use of the natural resources trees provide, humans appear to have many deeper connections with them. Trees feature predominately across culture, such as phrases like “branching out” or “taking root”, while environmental activists are often disparagingly called “tree-huggers”. Trees are frequently used as metaphors across self-help and psychotherapy in relation to mental wellbeing, from being deep rooted to their ability to flex in the wind. They appear as key roles in creation stories across many different Eastern and Western religions and cultures, including the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Eden and the tree of life or World Tree, such as Yggdrasil in Norse mythology. And of course at this time of year a Christmas tree is a common sight in people’s houses and across public locations, as a key part of the festive decorations.

That hasn’t scratched the surface of our social, cultural and religious references to trees, which suggests they have a relational value to us. Within psychology this indicates that we can have a personal sense of knowing and apply an importance to them, whether that is a specific tree or a place such as a favourite woodland, with this connection going beyond a resource perspective.

Three research papers published this year may help to explore the various connections we can have with trees, along with the meaning that can provide, with perspectives from urban settings and Indigenous communities.

white tree trunks with yellow leaves at daytime — Photo by John Price on Unsplash

Values

Liz O’Brien and colleagues paper details the development of a measure of social and cultural values towards trees, including considering the impact of pests and diseases. While social and cultural values are often defined differently, from their literature review they found aspects such as supporting recreation, a sense of place identity or connection, aesthetic elements and aiding wellbeing were often cited values linked with trees. Their new measure wanted to go beyond these and explore the relational values people may express towards trees.

They developed 19 statements relating to trees, such as “They make me notice the changing seasons", across the 6 categories of wellbeing, nature and wildlife, place, spiritual, learning and aesthetics. The statements, along with questions about loss due to pest and disease, were scored on a scale of 0 to 100 by 5000 participants across England during 2022. The participants were aged from 18 to over 65 and were spilt almost evenly across gender. Data was analysed at both regional and national level, with no notable differences found between the levels.

The results showed that the highest scored statement related to how people recognised the importance of trees to supporting wildlife, followed by how helpful trees were to mental wellbeing and providing a wider connection with nature through the seasonal changes trees display. The lowest scored statements related to how trees supported community and inspire creativity. I was surprised that the third lowest statement related to connecting with memories. However it is worth noting that the lowest scores were still relatively high on the scale, averaging around 57. The spread of average scores from 57 through to 80 suggests that people felt a positive and personal relationship to trees across the suggested 6 categories. The highest concern participants rated was related to the effect of pests and diseases which would result in a large scale, irreplaceable loss of trees.

The team hope that the new measure could be used as part of urban tree and greenspace planning with local communities, to help understand the social and cultural aspects that are important as part of those spaces.

a couple of people standing next to a tree near a body of water — Photo by Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash

“Hello my friend”

Catherine Philips, Elizabeth Straughan and Jennifer Atchison paper provides a deeper insight into the relationships people can establish with trees, using analysis of gratitude emails addressed to trees as part of an online campaign hosted by the city of Melbourne in Australia. The platform hosts an online forest map of around 80,000 street and park trees, which includes data about the species, age and health information, along with the ability to email a specific tree with a gratitude message. Expressing gratitude has been shown to have positive impact to mental wellbeing and nature connection.

The research team analysed 3,251 emails sent to various trees in the city across the period 2012 to 2018 with the aim of looking at the emotional, ethical and practical aspects of how people expressed their relationship with the selected tree. Their analysis suggested four themes.

The first theme, supporting life, noted how people recognised the role that trees play in supporting wildlife, in helping to improve air quality and how they elicit positive emotions. Some of the emails expressed sadness at learning a tree was classed as dying and thanked it for its role in supporting the lives of others. Secondly people expressed thanks for the aesthetic aspect of trees, including how they engage various senses, provide a contrast to the city and reflected on unique elements of certain trees, such as their height. Trees that were close to people’s homes were often seen as bringing beauty into daily life. That leads onto the third theme of diversion, where trees provide welcome distractions on daily commutes and provide the opportunity to stop and notice nature, including other wildlife such as birds. Some participants thanked a specific tree for providing emotional respite or refuge during difficult times, with many of the emails expressing a reciprocal care and concern for the tree. The last identified theme was that of solace, reflecting specific examples of where trees had provided emotional support or been present during a key moment in the participants life, such as meeting a loved under a tree. Some participants mentioned talking to a specific tree about their troubles and how being near the tree had helped during times of grief and loss.

It is a qualitative study so the reviewed emails can be interpreted subjectively, but the researchers used a large dataset and the examples they use support the identified themes, a lot of which resonated personally.

low angle photography of green trees — Photo by Arnaud Mesureur on Unsplash

Deeper meaning

Stef Spronk and Aung Si paper considers the meaning of trees within two Indigenous societies. They present a view that trees have a broadly passive relationship within Western cultures while within non-Western cultures it is a more active relationship, often based on sacred and spiritual aspects.

The analysis was based on reviewing cultural stories and semi-structured interviews across the Ngarinyin people of Australia and the Solega people of India. The Ngarinyin stories often featured trees as identifying places and as landmarks, helping to guide the Aborigines through the landscape. There were relationships between certain trees and individuals or clans, with the trees being associated with or representing ancestors. Trees were very much part of the human world within these stories. Interviews with members of the Solega highlighted the spiritual aspect, with some trees held as sacred and revered. Trees were often named in relation to specific events, their appearance or links to spirits, with the belief that trees have a soul.

The beliefs and stories analysed show that within these Indigenous people trees have an agency which us part of everyday life and goes far beyond them being part of a landscape or a resource.

"I am (obviously) much in love with plants and above all trees, and always have been; and I find human mistreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment of animals”

Tolkien expressed his connection with trees in a 1955 letter and they feature a lot in his books, perhaps not unexpectedly given his interests in both nature and in mythological sagas. In Tolkien’s fictional world trees were protected by Ents, tree-like creatures created to act as “tree shepherds” and protect the woods and forests of Middle-earth from the axes and destructive actions of other races.

The research papers support the sense of connection which many people feel intuitively with trees, which can arise for various reasons and be expressed differently. At a personal level and at a socio-cultural level, trees appear to connect deeply with us or perhaps rather us with them. However, at a time of large-scale deforestation, loss of trees due to land clearance for transport links and farming, the increasing threat from destructive diseases and with encroaching urbanisation, perhaps that connection needs revisiting.

Perhaps we need to think more Ent-like to preserve and support these important and vital natural wonders.

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Compassionate Nature

Trees

Following on from the recent Tree Week event in the UK, what recent research reveals about our relationship with trees.

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