I recently stayed in a remote treehouse deep in the forest. No Wi-Fi, no cell service. Just me and the trees (Yes, I was a little spooked to pee in the outhouse at night).
When I walked around or looked out the treehouse windows I couldn’t believe how many shades of green surrounded me. The longer I looked, the more I noticed. Sounds came from every direction, some familiar, others I couldn’t quite place.
When night came, everything seemed to go completely quiet. Like dead silent, nada. I could hear my own heartbeat. With no distractions, my thoughts wandered to the trees around me: how long they had been there, what they supported, and all the ways they provide for us, often without us giving them much thought.
We tend to notice their shade on a hot day or admire their colors in the fall. But so much of what trees do happens quietly, beyond what we can see.That night reminded me how much there is to appreciate and how easy it is to forget when we’re caught up in our everyday lives.
So I wanted to share a few things about trees that you might not know, or perhaps simply haven’t thought about in a while.
1. Trees communicate with eachother within the air and underground
Trees may seem quiet, but they’re constantly responding to the world around them including each other.
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When some trees are attacked by insects, they release invisible chemicals into the air. Nearby trees can detect these chemical signals and respond by strengthening their own defenses, almost like receiving an early warning that danger is nearby.
Scientists have observed this in species including willows, poplars, and maples. It doesn’t mean trees are having conversations the way we do, but they are capable of picking up information released by their neighbors and reacting to it.
Trees can also be connected underground through networks of fungi that attach to their roots. Through these networks, nutrients like can not only move between trees, but research has even found that older trees can transfer resources to younger seedlings, and that trees can respond differently to seedlings that are related to them. These large, well-connected trees are sometimes called “mother trees.” It’s a beautiful reminder that a forest isn’t simply a collection of individual trees it’s a deeply connected community, with relationships happening both above and below the ground.
So, a forest that seems completely silent to us may actually be full of signals we simply can’t sense.
2. Forests absorb billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide
You probably learned at some point that through photosynthesis, trees use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugars that fuel their growth, releasing oxygen along the way. Carbon becomes part of their trunks, branches, leaves, and roots, with additional carbon stored in forest soils. That means some of the carbon from the air around us becomes part of the forest itself.
Globally, forests take up billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, helping slow carbon buildup in the atmosphere and the warming it causes. But deforestation releases stored carbon and erases much of that benefit. Protecting trees means protecting both the carbon they already hold and their ability to keep absorbing more.
3. Time among trees can be benificial to humans
Ever noticed how a walk in the woods can leave you feeling calmer? Studies comparing time in forests with time in urban settings have measured lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, along with lower pulse rates and blood pressure, among participants in forest environments.
Trees also release compounds called phytoncides, which help defend them against insects and microbes. Some human studies suggest that exposure to some of these compounds may influence the activity of natural killer cells, which are part of our immune system. Researchers are still working out how much these chemicals contribute to the broader benefits of being in a forest.
The Japanese practice of “shinrin-yoku”, or forest bathing, encourages us to slow down and take in the forest through our senses and believes doing this offers many benifits such as lowering stress and anxiety. You don’t need to cover miles or reach a summit. You can simply sit, listen, notice the trees, and give yourself time to be there.
I hope the next time you see a tree, you pause for a moment. Notice its branches, its shade, the life around it. Remember how much it provides and how much is happening within and around it, even when it appears perfectly still 🌱🌲🌳
