http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2013/11/25/the-witness-trees/
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem Evangeline begins with the words “This is the forest primeval”. Longfellow was talking about the rich Acadian forest, and was taking a little poetic license. In fact, settlers and boat-builders had already pillaged those forests. They were later altered again and again as the pulp and paper industry flourished. Some wonder whether those forests of 500 years ago can be regrown. Are our forests fiber mines or recreational playgrounds? Are they an economic engine or necessary for our environmental health? And are they essential, as some neuroscientific research is suggesting, to our mental well being? IDEAS contributor Dick Miller re-imagines the forest of the future.
Participants in the program:
Peter Lee – Executive Director, Global Forest Watch Canada
Tom Beckley – Professor, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick
Diana Beresford Kroeger – Chemist, Environmentalist, Author: The Global Forest: Forty Ways Trees Can Save Us (Viking, 2010); The Sweetness of a Simple Life: Tips for Healthier, Happier and Kinder Living Gleaned from the Wisdom and Science of Nature (Random House, 2013)
Donna Crossland – Historical ecologist, writer
Bob Bancroft – Wildlife biologist, consultant
Mark Brennan – Artist, audio recordist