Can understanding plant intelligence change attitudes and behaviour towards plants?

There is a field of science that not many people know about, and many scientists haven’t had the experience of, to make informed comments. Many people not familiar with intelligence existing beyond primates will dismiss it, even ridicule it as they do the meaning in children’s stories, shamanism, animalism or even quantum science. For some it may threaten their justification of their current actions so they need to hang onto their own ‘truth’. It is an area called Plant Intelligence.  Plants can learn, have memory and are intelligent, however the mechanism is different to that in humans. They do not have brains or neurons.

My interest in plant communication was stimulated when I became a Treesister and met Ellen who could communicate with trees, especially the Redwoods. Ellen spent days at a time hiking and sitting with the Redwoods. They provided her with great insights into navigating our turbulent world. Ellen Dee Davidson’s book ‘Wild Path to the Sacred Heart’ provides an amazing insight into her experiences. She shone a light on a path for me. If we follow our hearts we too can have greater connection with Nature. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1733627502/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Since reading Ellen’s book I have heard of more people, especially women who can connect deeply with trees. Usually it would be when they are in a meditative state, which slows their brain waves to alpha or beta and generally slows the whole body and its increases receptive skills. Depending on your current beliefs you may consider the ability or process as tapping into the universal consciousness, a quantum field of thoughts travelling not as matter but as energy, or a spiritual being channeling the thoughts and words (however the person senses them which may or may not be like an actual human voice) or the actual consciousness of the tree. How could we know? We don’t have the tools within our current science technology to test it.

However, Monica Gagliano, Research Associate Professor in Evolutionary Ecology previously at the University of Western Australia, and now at the University of Sydney has done experiments based on methods used for studying animal behavior.  Monica is the leader in research and dissemination of the new field of Plant Bioacoustics. Just type her name and you will see she has authored many articles, several books, and presented many public talks.

To quote her web site… “Plant bioacoustic is a newly-emerged field of plant communication. Plants produce sound waves in the lower end of the audio range as well as an overabundance of ultrasonic sounds. By capturing the signals emitted by plants under different environmental conditions, I am exploring the ecological significance of these sounds to communication among plants and between plants and other organisms.…

Plant cognition is a new and exciting field of research directed at experimentally testing the cognitive abilities of plants, including perception, learning processes, memory and consciousness. The emerging framework holds considerable implications for the way we perceive plants as it redefines the traditionally held boundary between animals and plants.” (https://www.monicagagliano.com accessed 26-01-2020)

This fascinating work may help those who easily dismiss the narrative supplied by people like Ellen who receive messages not only from trees but animals, elements and ancestors. Indigenous people who have remained connected to the land, plants and animals have thrived for centuries by accessing such knowledge. The knowledge of what plants to eat, to use as medicine or to avoid has been handed down for thousands of years. Where did this knowledge come from? Was it instinct, universal collective knowledge or communication with the plants or plant spirits as Manari, shaman of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest explained to me?

When you consider the super abilities of Yogis and free divers who can control their breath to limits which most of us would expire at we must accept that humans are nowhere near their potential in expanding our receptive abilities in hearing sound. If we look into Monica’s research and slow down to ‘plant time’ we may find we can hear, or in some other way sense the acoustic sounds they produce. We can already use microphones to hear the sounds; therefore it is likely some of us can hear them without devices.

Recently I have heard that the trees are calling for our help.

Many different sounds have been recorded and plant scientists who reproduced the conditions trees are exposed to including drought, inside an agar plate have discovered the sound a stressed tree makes. “Inside tree trunks are bundles of specialized tubes called xylem, which rely on the attractive forces between water molecules as well as those between water and plant cells to lift liquid to the highest leaves and branches….In drought-stricken trees, … increased pressure can cause the water column to break, allowing dissolved air to form bubbles that block water flow… called cavitations,… Since cavitations can kill trees, scientists and forest managers want to know when they are increasing.” Hopefully if water can be supplied the trees will live. The science can tell us which trees are calling for help. But who will listen?

They are asking that we stop cutting them down, polluting and increasing saline levels in the water. We need to plant and nurture many more. The trees need the underground water and their relations, other trees in forests, where vapour is transpired and carried through the air to create rain. And maybe they need our songs and love as well.

Another account of sounds produced by trees is given by David Haskell in ‘The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connections”. David uses microphones attached to recorders to listen to trees and some of these sounds can be attributed to movement of water through cells and the zylem…but he also listens deeply. He is awake to the interconnections of all life. To quote a review, “Through his exploration, Haskell shows that this networked view of life enriches our understanding of biology, human nature and ethics. When we listen to trees, nature’s great connectors, we learn how to inhabit the relationships that give life its source, substance and beauty.”

Activities to do

• The first action we can take is to reflect on our love for nature, called biophillia. Recall a time in your childhood when you were in awe of Nature’s beauty. Were you walking in bush-land or forest? Was it a flower in your grandparent’s garden? Use all your senses to remember how it felt in your body. Gather gratitude in your heart and thank the plant or animal that gave you the gift of awe. Continue to recall several times when you felt deep admiration for Nature’s beauty. Sense if you can feel this in your heart. Now radiate the heart felt love back to Nature. Words, song, thoughts or an energy vibration may accompany this.
• Can you remember any time in your childhood when you wanted to share the beauty of Nature with a grown-up but they were too busy or not interested in what you were showing? Maybe they were even disgusted or wanted to kill it  (imagine a beautiful green caterpillar that is eating your broccoli). What effect might this have had on the little child? Can we keep the innocent love for Nature alive as we grow up? Can we learn from listening deeply? Will it make a difference?

Breathing with the trees

This activity is taken from a video of Sadhuguru speaking at the World Economic Forum.

• Arrange for a group of people sit down under some trees, eyes closed following a process of centring and focusing on their breath. As they breathe out say:-.”Your exhalation is the trees inhalation, [breathe in] the trees exhalation is your inhalation”. “Reflect that one half of your breathing apparatus is out there on the tree, what would you do without it?” (https://www.facebook.com/20781959145/posts/10157973078004146/)
• To associate listening and breathing with the trees to the wetlands, specifically Point Grey, Peel-Harvey Estuary I invite you to watch & read the slide show of photos I took when i visited the site where developers want to build a marina with associated housing and shopping facilities. I created a story line with the intention of displaying it at the Wetland Event. My hope is to produce sketch outline that children can colour-in possibly leading to the creation a collaborative book. You can see the ‘yet to be perfected’ slideshow here – Limnoriea – a mythology for Point Grey.

Imagine

So whether your world-view is from peer reviewed science or the guidance channeled through clairvoyants, or somewhere in between, there is a message for us, for you and me. If we develop our capacity to understand our relationship to plants, especially trees, we may find we can make this world a more beautiful place to be.

• Imagine Earth in 2050 rewilded with increasing biodiversity and a just and sustainable habitat for all. It is possible if we listen to the trees.

Addition –

If you wish to read the words that accompany the slide show (many are hard to read especially on mobiles) then here is the story line so far for Limnoriea – A mythology for Point Grey

I am the Nymph who nurtures all things in the salt marshes and salt-water estuaries.

Nymphs are known for their love of nature and nurturing all in need. I am in essence true love and create harmony because love energy radiates from my heart.

I have many sisters. My closest sisters are all the other Nereids. We live in both salt and fresh water. The Naiads preside over springs, rivers, and lakes.

The nymphs of the mountains are Oreads and the Dryads are the nymphs of the trees. Hamadryad is bound to the tree and her life is dependent on the tree’s life.

Most of us can change our form from human to the source of Nature we are in service to.

Dryads can change from the form of a tree to a human at will.

For me it is anything in the still salty water. But our powers to shift between these forms have been weakened.

We started to lose our powers and were forced into a deep sleep in the land now called Western Australia about two hundred years ago. Many crimes were committed against the human guardians who had lived in harmony with us for the longest known time.

Humans stopped respecting us and thought they were the all mighty ones. They chopped and burnt down so many trees that the Dryads started to die, especially Hamadryads. Nereids have been able to keep some of our powers but things are changing very quickly now.

I have been granted extra energy from the grid of light, an energy surrounding our universe that is connected to the centre of your mother, the Earth. I have entered a portal and will only have these extra powers for a short time, so please sit down with me and listen closely.

I heard the call from the twin tree, Swamp Paperbark, Melaleuca rhaphiophylla. The trees need your help.

In 1994 humans cut a channel to the ocean opposite a place they called Point Grey. They said it was a solution to toxic algae growth.

The clearing of land and the use fertilisers caused a lot of nitrogen build up that created toxic algae.

They didn’t think about reducing run off and stopping the cause.

They didn’t look to Nature for an answer. They also wanted to create luxury canals to live on and marinas for boats.

They didn’t ask the Trees who have lived here a long time.

The salt level and tides from the ocean made many trees die. Humans measured their decline in the Harvey River in 1994.

Only the Saltwater Paperbark can have her trunk surrounded by salty water. They have special roots coming from the trunk.

This is Saltwater Paperbark, Malaleuca cuticularis. Her leaves are smaller and she doesn’t grow as big.

They like to live close together in groves.

You can see the lake is white because there is only salt, no water.

Their bark helps protect from bush fires, but goes black, whilst unburnt parts are white. Malaleuca means black and white.

They provide food and places to live for birds, reptiles and insects. They take in carbon doixide and release oxygen.

My special powers allow me to live in the paperbark by day, returning to the salt water by night. I am here to talk to humans.

I invite you to come and spend time with us, to touch our bark, smell our aroma, see our beauty and hear us -listen deeply.

Come and sit with me, be quiet, even hug me. Breathe in, breathe out, can you feel something in your heart?

Please stand with the trees; we need your love. Nature needs you to be embedded in love with us.

What do you think the trees want? What do you think the water wants?

When you listen with your heart you will hear the answers.

Maybe you will hear: No more chopping and pushing over trees.

We need trees to cover at least 50% of Planet Earth’s land for harmony and the energy of the Nymphs to be returned.

We need the water to be clean.

The trees are grateful for you saying yes to our survival

They want you to say no to ‘capital growth’ like housing developments and Marinas at Point Grey.

Recent humans have called this place Point Grey.

It is on the eastern side roughly in the middle of the estuary.

Gratitude to Treesister friends and music provided by Karlo WondeRa