Ben Rawlence
on the Treeline and the Last Forest
The most memorable moment when you saw walking trees was probably the Battle of Isengard, when the Ents, those marvellous sentient tree-beings, defeated Saruman and his army.
Ents. The most ancient living creatures in Middle-earth. The protectors of the forests, the shepherds to the trees.
A story with a happy end - but did you know that “walking trees” are not just fiction?
Ben Rawlence knows that for sure: “The migration of the treeline North is no longer a matter of inches per century; instead it is hundreds of feet every year. The trees are on the move. They shouldn’t be. And this sinister fact has enormous consequences for all life on Earth.”
His most recent book has won the National Academies Prize for Science Writing. The Treeline: The last forest and the Future of Life on Earth depicts how climate change is transforming the northern hemisphere and what that means for all of us. Ben tells a complex ecological story by focusing on changes affecting 7 tree species in 7 different boreal ecotones: Scots pine in Scotland, birch in Norway, larch in Russia, spruce in Alaska, poplar in Canada and rowan in Greenland. It is a poetic and touching exploration of the “lung” of the world. Ben takes us on a journey through this critical frontier to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting these geological changes.
A journey of curiosity and awe at these species' incredible intelligence and resilience and the mysterious workings of the forest that gifts us the air we breathe. Blending reportage with science, it’s a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on Earth.
An award-winning writer and activist, Ben is the founder & CEO of Black Mountains College, also known as “the first-ever Climate Change University". It is an innovative educational facility born to educate and empower their students in creative and adaptive thinking in the face of climate emergency, because “soon, there’s not going to be any distinction between green skills and skills; there’s just going to be skills and one of the core ones are going to be climate and ecological literacy.”
Ben believes nature is stunning, yet very complex and unpredictable: “It’s the butterfly effect, where tiny things can have huge consequences.” Nothing should be left to chance, because “we are very good at predicting environmental conditions, but social science is really bad at predicting human futures and how human systems will respond.”
Thank you, Ben, for being a Treeliner!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Ben Rawlence
Company / Institution: Black Mountains College
Title: CEO
Website: www.blackmountainscollege.uk
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-rawlence-33488721/
Country of origin: UK
Country you currently live in: UK
Your personal definition of Regeneration: Leaving your habitat in better condition than you found it.
Main business challenge you face: Planning permission/limits to innovation.
Main driver that keeps you going: Fear for my children. I have seen what climate-driven conflict looks like (Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan)!
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: Persistence and creative problem-solving.
The trait you most value in others: Sympathetic leadership.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: Swimming.
The #inspirators who determined you to take the regenerative path:
My parents, my neighbours in Tanzania in Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar, living there in the 1990s.
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the regeneration journey: Forget what you think you know, and trust your body.
Most used and abused clichés about sustainability that bother you: Net zero.
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope: Hope has come to mean a bourgeois idea based on consumption – focus on the present, what good things can you do today?
Books that had a major impact on you:
The History of White People by Nell Nell Irvin Painter
The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi
Must-reads for any Regenerative professional:
The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Movies / Documentaries you would watch all over again:
Embrace of the Serpent
Wild River
Anything by Ousman Sembene
Succession Series 1-4
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts etc. you visit frequently: Nature, The Phenomenal World.
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing: Bolingo/Soukous from Congo!
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: Congo, Siberia, Zanzibar, Somalia.
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow:
Ailton Krenak & Selvagem
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on:
Education
The unravelling of the ‘net zero’ illusion
The fate of plankton in the ocean
Best places for business networking (online or offline): LinkedIn
Events we should attend: ChangeNow – Paris.
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why:
Ecoversities - a great community of people trying to do higher education differently.
Sustainable Development or Regeneration courses, trainings, or certifications that really teach us how to have an impact:
A New Story by Black Mountains College!
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030: More people will think like us and be committed to a regenerative future, even though the state of the biosphere will be much more degraded.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030: The fossil fuel lobby is winning the battle to slow down the transition, and our movement is not strong enough yet.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today: Strategic organizing at the political level.
Quote that inspires you:
“Mtu huzaa neno, baadaae neno lakatawala mtu”
("Humans gave birth to an idea, then later, the idea came to govern humans.")
It’s a quote from the play ‘Kinjeketile’ by EE Kezilihabi, a Swahili writer.
It reminds us that what we have made is from an idea and it can be unmade, or made differently.
Your quote that will inspire us:
