The olive tree… just looking at one fills you with gratitude.
Here in Santa Ana, we breathe the green soul of trees – olives, pomegranates, figs, palms…
Each olive tree is like a spring with a tiny local climate of its own.. It heals. It’s a miraculous medicine of nature.
Woods and forests are humanity’s greatest heritage.
I think of Wangari Maathai, the African woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize, her Green Belt Movement and her “Trees of Peace.”
Now, we face new challenges: drought, climate change, soil erosion…
So why not plant more trees, over and over again, in villages, towns, cities… indeed everywhere? Why not make the entire planet ecological and organic?
In some parts of Andalusia where the heat is excessive, people continue to uproot trees and the local mindset still sees plants as messy and dirty. A mere handful of flowerpots decorate their patios, and bleach is used without restraint.
I remember a village I used to visit as a child. Nowadays the main square has no big trees left… they’ve been replaced with orange trees pruned into little lollipop shapes…
The square is now a wide, bare space, stripped of greenery, just scorching hot concrete.
By May, it’s already too hot to cross during the day, and people call it “the Gobi Desert“.
Those big trees that are no longer there provided shade, and helped cool down the blistering summer heat…
Doesn’t it seem like the world is upside down? Temperatures rise, yet we’re still cutting down trees.
And those of us who farm without toxic agrochemicals still have to pay fees so we can be labelled “organic”…
Wouldn’t it make more sense for polluters to pay to help repair the damage?
Isn’t it time we started cultivating a better world?
Our true destiny is to be caretakers, not predators.
Elena Vecino
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