Talking Like Trees and Fungi!
Being together in happy and tough times
by Ketan Alder
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To consider how we can overcome adversity and flourish through working together.
Preparation and materials
- None required.
Assembly
- Let’s begin with a question: what do we see every day on our way to school that is observant, social and perceptive, and communicates more than we realize?
I’ll give you a couple of clues: I’m not thinking about a human or an animal. There are [insert number] of them on the school grounds. Adapt your clues as necessary.
Pause to allow the students a few minutes to discuss the question quietly in pairs or small groups. - I’m thinking about trees. Yes, trees are observant, social and perceptive, and they communicate. Trees are amazing!
- Some people might think that trees are like wooden statues, and that, because they don’t move, they are of little interest. People might regard them as less interesting than the birds, insects and other animals that live in them.
- However, over the last few years, scientists have begun to understand new things about trees. Recent discoveries are revealing something amazing under our feet. The underground roots of many healthy trees are linked together with miles of microscopic threads of fungi. These threads, which are called mycelium, wrap around the tree roots, spread out and then connect to other tree roots, until there is a network of trees connected to one another. If you like, it is a wood-wide-web!
- Trees communicate through this underground web, passing water and nutrients to one another. Even more amazing is that some saplings that live in the shade get preferential treatment from older, taller trees. This is because, to survive, the saplings require the nutrients and sugar that the older, taller trees can provide.
- Older, taller trees play an important part in the network. Often referred to as mother trees, their roots go deep, and they usually have many connections to other trees. This helps them to identify the trees, often saplings, that need some support to help them thrive. This sounds incredible, but it gets even better!
- Remarkably, trees also communicate with one another when they sense danger. For example, scientists found that some Douglas-fir trees that were injured by insects passed warning signals through the network to other trees nearby, who then produced a chemical to defend against the insect.
- And there’s more! The living fungal strands that convey these underground conversations also benefit. As they help out, the fungal network is supplied with sugars and fats that the trees produce through photosynthesis.
- So, what have we learned? Forest trees and fungi are communal, and they cooperate with one another. They are interdependent - feeding, protecting and relying on one another both when times are good, and when they are tough. Trees and fungi have a collective intelligence.
Time for reflection
The wonder of trees can direct us to the psalms in the Bible. These are short, often passionate songs and poems that are rich in expressions of hope, gratitude and wonder. In Psalm 1, the author sings a perplexing lyric comparing a happy person to ‘a tree planted by streams of water’.
Maybe the author of the psalm knew something about trees that we often forget: humans - like trees - flourish when they are part of a community. To live prosperous, healthy lives, trees need one another and their fungal friends, and humans operate in the same way.
Perhaps we have something to learn from trees - that we gain nourishment from our own wood-wide-web, and are best when we are interconnected, supportive and part of a sacred ecosystem.
To finish, let’s remind ourselves that every tree is valuable to its community, and so are we. So, who do we know who may need some support? When the time comes, what is one good way to say that we need a little help too?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Use Psalm 1 as a prayer and reflection.
Psalm 1
Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
