Author of a book with international success The secret life of treessold more than 7 million copies worldwide, the German forest engineer Peter Wohlleben says he is concerned about the consequences of Donald Trump’s policies about the environment. Visiting Canada to promote his new work, Our wild heritageand participate in different events, he explains how our instincts can be channeled to become a positive force in the fight against climate change.
Peter Wohlleben publishes “Our Sauvage Heritage”, an absolutely reading essay, published by Multimondes editions.
© Multimondes editions
Passing to Montreal to participate in the International Metropolis Bleu Literary Festival, where he received a prestigious prize, the most famous forensic guard on the planet also granted some interviews for his latest book, Our wild heritage.
After revealing the secrets of trees and those of animals, Peter Wohlleben looked at the secrets of human nature and its role in preserving the environment. He maintains that our instincts can be channeled to become a force in the fight against climate change.
“These are more current themes than ever, especially when you look at what is happening on the other side of the border, at home,” he comments, in an interview.
Positive triggers
He has an important message to transmit. “We are a species like the others and that means that we are largely guided by our instincts. This can be used positively in politics. “
“We also have negative aspects, but if we trigger instincts and positive emotions, it should be much easier to achieve climatic or environmental protection that we have set for itself.”
“From the moment we talk about restrictions, fear, guilt, negative emotions – which are important of course – we miss the triggers of positive emotions: we like to protect nature, we like to protect the climate.”
Trump policies
Peter Wohlleben is also concerned, as European, by the policies of the American president with regard to the environment, in particular concerning the exploitation of protected land in national parks and national forests.
“What Trump is doing there is more than crazy. With one hand, he tries to divert the water from the rivers to the farms of the producers of California, from rivers which are not connected to the sources it would be. And he realizes that they are short of water. On the other, he tries to cut the water pumps, ”he says.
“Trees and forests are gigantic biotic pumps that create strong depressions above the forests. Fresh ocean air, loaded with humidity, is pumped towards land. The trees, with their bacteria, their spores and special molecules, create condensation and the rain falls into the forest, flows into the rivers and thus, you have water. ”
“If you have forests on one side and, on the other, arid lands that lack water like in California, the worst idea is to cut the green pump.”
Breaking the balance of the water cycle is risky not only for the United States … but for us and for the whole planet. “If the United States cuts more forests, it will cause more droughts in Canada. Everything is interconnected. Scientists already said it in the XIXe century.”
-Positive actions
Peter Wohlleben also finds important to do networking internationally, in terms of environmental protection, to thwart the action of lobbyists. This is one of the reasons that motivated him to travel to Canada, even if he hesitates to make long journeys, for environmental reasons.
“We have to do networking with people from all countries to thwart this lobby, and to save our nature. We have a growing network. In Canada, for example, I support a first nation on the west coast. It is important to combine modern science and First Nations knowledge, particularly in the field of forest management. ”
Our wild heritage
Peter Wohlleben
Multimondes
304 pages
- World renowned forest engineer, Peter Wohlleben is recognized for his in -depth expertise in public forest management in Germany.
- His work propelled him to the rank of an essential expert in the field of ecology.
- His book, The secret life of treeswas an international success: translated into several languages, it has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.
- He visited Montreal as part of the International Metropolis Bleu Literary Festival, where he received the Blue Metropolis Planet Literature prize.
“The question of our animality is decisive in the fight against global warming and the destruction of the environment. For the moment, in fact, we try to resolve the pressing problems as if our intellectual capacities made us superior to other species. Let’s start by recognizing that we are in the same boat and then urgently think about other strategies. ”
– Peter Wohlleben, Our wild heritageMultimondes
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