The tree is an observer; she sings with the wind and glides in the sun, reaching toward the sky while humbly penetrating the ground.

The harsh drought, the ruthless winter, the first forest fire, and the last spring—all the memories are absorbed in her trunk, ring after ring. She is a timekeeper, standing silently on the ground, accumulating all the wealth of knowledge and passing it to the embryos in the seeds, where the future of her species sleeps, awaiting a great journey.

The trees have evolved to travel by participating in the cycles of life. Their dispersal is entrusted to the wind, water, gravity, and the creatures that they nourish.

The willow tree disperses her seeds into the water, floating further, while the birch creates light-winged seeds to be carried by the wind. The horse chestnuts drop from a height, split and scatter, letting gravity pull the seeds further. The oak nourishes the squirrel and jay, and they reciprocate by taking and hiding the seeds beneath the ground.

When the conditions are favourable, new life bursts open, establishing itself on fresh ground.

Trees move patiently, generation after generation, responding to the climate around them.

During the Ice Age, the English oak retreated southward and then moved back north, likely covering a distance of a thousand kilometres, one seed at a time. The Norway spruce and the white spruce were considered to have migrated hundreds of kilometres during the warming period.

As the Earth heats, the trees are migrating; like us, for them, too, it’s a matter of survival. While pines and firs are reaching north, oaks and maples are reaching west. The interconnectedness of the forest is established by centuries of collaboration between different species nurturing each other.

With each new seed rooting in new ground, the forest is also travelling. It’s a slow process, challenging old established orders. What distance could the pollinators cover? Which animals would move? Even between the plants, some species thrive together. How far they can reach in union is a question of probability and plasticity.

Over a million years ago, human ancestors dispersed from Africa to other continents, probably carrying some seeds and spreading them, remaining true to their primate nature. While we have come a long way since then, we still share similarities—not just with primates but also with trees.

The patterns of our bodies resemble those of trees. Standing upright, we, too, reach toward the crown. Our spines are like trunks, from which nerves grow and spread like branches. The rings on our fingertips, unique to each individual, create a similar pattern to the rings of trees that preserve their memory.

In the hope of new life, it’s not only the trees that are searching for new ground but also more than twenty-five million humans. It’s a mutual struggle happening in the same ecosystem. I wonder what’s the difference between a tree desperately trying to escape the droughts and a human who has lost their livelihood in a climate disaster. 

Trees play an integral role in human physical and spiritual well-being. Lowering stress and increasing cognition, we are deeply connected to trees. Our bodies find calm in their presence.

Having stood firmly on the ground for centuries, they have been preparing for the warming Earth. They are ready to travel distances. They survived the last Ice Age, climbing mountains back and forth.  How far are we prepared to travel?

Although I believe the trees are far more spiritual than us and much wiser, I certainly cannot offer evidence for my belief, as it’s rooted in me from my personal experience. But I’m certain we would have to travel a great distance in our inner landscape to truly search for the new ground.

The same force that sets the planets in circular motion, the same force that makes the river move toward the ocean, the same force that takes the tree in a new favourable direction, also resides in our spirit. We are all emerging from the same source.

Perhaps we can listen to the whispers of travelling trees and begin a journey in the direction of life. The only question is: are we willing to travel and honour the depths of the natural world we hold within?

Words by Priyanka Singh Parihar, Founder and Editor-in-Chief

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Planting seeds of thought that invite us to root and bloom despite the climate crisis. Seeds is a multidisciplinary writing practice that borrows its wisdom from spiritual, ecological, anthropological, and scientific sources.