Foreword
BY JOHN OWENS
As we know, the world is facing a profound environmental crisis that incorporates the dramatic loss of
biodiversity, accelerating climate breakdown and
rising social inequalities. The ramifications of this crisis
have the potential to be catastrophic for human societies
and the natural world, with consequences from the local
to the truly global.
Distilling the heartwood of academia
Knowledge in the Heartwood
A tree’s heartwood is the dense, mature wood found at
the centre. It is the oldest part of the tree, which has often
observed centuries of life. Rather than non-living, as some
biologists have come to define it, I consider heartwood as
the embodiment of a collection of deep-rooted memories.
These memories have captured the stories of our Earth in
the form of particles, communicated in annual tree rings.
If we were to look closely, if we were to listen in, we might
reach into this cavernous environmental knowledge it has
preserved, alongside the stories told through roots, trunk,
branches, blossoms and flowers.
Listening to heartwood and hearing this knowledge
takes time, lots of time. It also takes patience. It demands
that we sit still, open to discomfort, as our perspectives
shift. Knowledge not only accumulates from the direct
experience of the tree but is also pulled up through the
roots and through the leaves, allowing the well-travelled
water droplets and air particles to share their experiences
from further afield. When you’ve listened to heartwood
it often leads to wanting to share the experiences with
others and to act
