Humans perhaps spiritual connection to trees

Have you ever wondered why many of us have such a profound connection to trees?

For many of us there is this undeniable connection to living trees. Call it reverence, spirituality or perhaps the conscious connection to another sentient life force. I use the term sentient here not in human scientific terms of being able to recognize one's self in a mirror but in a much broader sense of a life force radiating from a living organism. I personally believe trees are self aware in their own sense not ours. This summer while hiking in the old growth Douglas Fir forests just outside Silicon Valley in California, I once again experienced this profound connection to the living forest. I felt as if I was amongst fellow earthlings, I know for some this may sound a little corny. I get the exact same feeling amongst whales, elephants and other major life forms, perhaps this is the same reason we as a species are so fascinated still today, with the dinosaurs.

So I began to dig a little deeper, it seems that even the ancients, pre-Christian European's felt this way, relating to the spirits of the forests, many have also felt this connection in modern times, the Banyan Tree is one example, hang out by one of these trees and you will see what I mean. It is quite interesting that recent scientific DNA studies have found human and tree DNA to be remarkably similar for two such divergent species.
http://www.science.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=en&n=4a981aee-1

Hear in lies perhaps our best plan to save the remaining forests and start to restore our planet. Our connection to the natural world does not have to be taught, it comes naturally, it in fact has to be un-learned (the switch has to be turned off). Many have willfully turned this switch off, it's a conscious decision. Exposure to the natural world is really all that is needed for most, there are many ways to go about this but we all need to get out of our cities (and bring more nature in - bio-integration if you will) get out of our boxes, cars and paved world and get back in touch with our planet. The result is that we will return to being stewards and not exploiters of the natural world. To know the natural world is to become an environmentalist! A society that will not tolerate the wanton destruction of the natural world can stop the disconnected behavior of the few.

On the other side of the coin is the financial incentive, next time I'll talk about helping the world's poor (who are often being exploited themselves) out of the dilemma they face of exploiting the natural world or earning a living in the modern capital driven world.