If Trees Could Dream

With the mountain peaks between him and the early morning sun, Dr. Ren Aoki padded among the giant trees in near darkness.

I’ve done time in California. Hard years. Beautiful years. Years earning my first doctorate. Years close to the poet | artist in the family who inspired me.

For “If Trees Could Dream,” available now from The Ecological Citizen, I imagined a newly minted researcher, jaded from the crucible that is a PhD, returning to a prior life as a forester. Only what he finds will change his life—and his science—forever. (Free to read: click above, download the PDF.)

A few celebratory words about The Ecological Citizen. It’s not common for science, commentary, fiction and poetry to cohabitate beneath the same roof (see Futures at Nature, or Meter at Scientific American)—whether the roof be one of thatch or of stars—but I think science is better for the paired narrative, and creative works strengthened by anchor in rigorous scientific discourse.

Would that more journals followed this lead. Although I will say, it’s incredibly common to find musicians, artists, photographers, writers and poets, and other creative folk among those who do the hard, often stunning work of scientific research. There is something to it, the push for creativity and innovation, that is common to both.

There’s something to it, the recognition that the creativity and innovation are the spark, but that the work, the hard work that is common to both art and science, is the other essential foundation stone for success.