This time of year can invoke a sense of darkness, gloom or sadness for some people. Admittedly, it affects me as well. But there is one way to combat it, and that is to go outdoors and be with nature.
I found this wonderful quote from American poet Walt Whitman, who suffered a stroke that caused permanent damage a decade before he turned 64.
Here is what he wrote: “After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains; to bring out from their torpid recesses, the affinities of a man or woman with the open air, the trees, fields, the changes of seasons — the sun by day and the stars of heaven by night.”
We are into the throes of winter, and the holidays are over. We need some outside time. We need to hug a tree. Why? One study shows some trees give off chemicals that may reduce stress hormones and lower blood pressure. Whether that’s true or not, it couldn’t hurt to try.
I took a walk in search of trees to hug and realized I had never really done this before, even though I spend a great deal of time outdoors enjoying and observing nature, especially birds and the trees where they’re perched. The first tree I found was a 5-foot-tall eastern red cedar. To hug it, I had to step inside the somewhat scratchy green needles to find the trunk. Hugging the tree, I felt safe with the needles surrounding me and imagined myself being a cold rabbit that needed some shelter and comfort. The scratchiness went away replaced by comfort, but I’m not sure what it did to my blood pressure.
The next tree I hugged was a paper birch with three large trunks emanating from the soil in which it grew. I wrapped my arms around one of the main limbs, then noticed the peeling white bark. I touched it and the white bark flaked off revealing a light chestnut-color beneath. Paper birches are short-lived trees and do better in more northerly climates, but this one beckoned me to admire it and be glad it was still in good condition.
The last tree I hugged that day was a Norway spruce, standing about 60-70 feet tall. My arms only reached about one-third the way around the trunk, and the gray bark’s texture was rough. I held onto the tree in awe. This giant has lived for many years, offering respite and food to wild creatures.
Each of the trees I hugged had completely different bark, texture and feel, and stirred up a different emotion. But each hug also made me feel closer to the Earth.
Now I can truly say I’m a tree-hugger, but that phrase is sometimes derogatory. It’s a loose term meant to criticize those who exercise civil disobedience, for example, by sitting in a tree that is destined to be cut down in hopes of saving it.
That’s precisely how the term originated. In the early 1700s, some 350 Hindu men and women objected to trees in their village being cut down to build a new palace. The sad story says that they clung to the trees as they were being cut down, and were killed by soldiers. Their protests, however, led to a law that prohibited cutting trees in the village and others nearby, according to Bryan Farrell, author of an article in the Earth Island Journal.
Farrell also relayed the story of a movement in India known as “chipko,” in the 1970s. Women were said to have thrown their arms around trees that were slated to be removed. Farrell wrote these actions led to reforms in forestry in the Himalayan regions.
Today’s stereotype definition of “tree-hugger” castigates the good work environmentalists have done to protect water and air from becoming polluted, to save wild places that offer habitat for rare animals and to plant trees in their neighborhood.
Each of us can be a tree-hugger, without having to do massive good ecological works. Hugging a tree can be a personal experience, one that reminds us to slow down and enjoy a simple moment, touching a living thing to which we are connected in so many ways.
Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor and photographer for the baiduhai and its subsidiaries. She’s the author of several books on nature and the environment. Send story ideas and thoughts to [email protected]