From a pioneering thinker in the field of religion and ecology, a collection of evocative meditations on the beauty, fragility, and resilience of trees. Included are twenty-seven original lithographs of the trees profiled in each chapter.
STEPHANIE KAZA is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies at
the University of Vermont. She is the author of Mindfully Green- A
Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking and Green
Buddhism- Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times
(forthcoming from Shambhala Publications). She is the editor of
Hooked!-Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume
and coeditor (with Kenneth Kraft) of Dharma Rain- Sources of
Buddhist Environmentalism.
DAVIS TE SELLE attended California College of Arts and Crafts and
holds an M.F.A. in printmaking from San Francisco Art Institute
where he studied with Kathan Brown, Richard Graf, and Gordon Cook.
He has shown his work in group and solo exhibitions on both east
and west coasts and most recently received the prestigious James D.
Phelan Award for printmaking in California. He has taught drawing
and printmaking at the University of Vermont and currently has a
studio in Portland, Oregon.
“Conversations with Trees has never been more important.
Twenty-five years ago, Stephanie Kaza’s lyric, wondering prose
invited readers to listen to what trees teach about the glistening
webs that connect all of life. Now, as global warming brings
hellfire and tempests to the forests, we must listen to what their
sinewy strength tells us about suffering, regeneration, and
redemption.”—Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Wild Comfort
“A beautiful exploration of the intelligence and mystery of trees.
These essays kindle both curiosity and awe, inviting us into deeper
relationship with our sylvan elders.”—David George Haskell, author
of Burroughs medalist, The Songs of Trees, and Pulitzer finalist,
The Forest Unseen
Praise for the original edition:
“This is a beautifully written, imaginative, appreciation of
trees.”—Publisher’s Weekly
“Kaza has answered the alluring call of the trees, transcending the
limitations of species to romp among them. Her book gives us a rare
glimpse of the wisdom that a deep, open-hearted encounter with
nature can afford us.”—Yoga Journal
“In Conversations with Trees we recover our primordial intimacy
with trees. We are sheltered, nourished, and inspired by trees both
physically and spiritually. Our loss of the forests and woodlands
of the world is the loss of so many of our deepest interior
experiences: the grace of the willow, the vigor of the oak, the
flow of the American elm and the ash, the toughness of hickory. In
this volume our sensitivity, our attentive heart, is awakened and
from there we are on our own.”—Thomas Berry, author of The Dream of
the Earth
“Stephanie Kaza’s book is a triumph—Deep Ecology writing at its
most humbly, powerfully evocative. Her encounters with trees teach
us to know—and, in knowing, to love—both world and self. For here
each tree, in disclosing its own story, its own beauty, reveals the
beholder’s as well. Each tells us, in a different voice, that if we
are to preserve the natural world, we must let it feed our
souls.”—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
“In the tradition of Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson,
Conversations with Trees draws the reader into the deeper meanings
and more heartfelt connections with nature. The book should be read
by all people who want to reconnect to the Tree of Life, to our
sacred connections with forests.”—William Devall, author of Deep
Ecology
“A delightful book that greatly deepened my appreciation for trees
and for people who take the time to educate the rest of us about
how to converse with them.”—Turning Wheel
“The lessons Kaza has learned and here conveyed are both profound
and mundane, like most important truths.”—Wild Earth
“For those who slow down when passing a particularly magnificent
elm, or dawdle on hikes to appreciate the solitary birch,
Conversations with Trees assures: take heart, you are not
alone.”—Vermont Times
“Stephanie Kaza’s rich work gives trees a voice, Davis Te Selle’s
lithographs, a shape. Together they give us a unique document, an
extended meditation on the forest of green wilderness that we live
in and need in order to survive. . . . A heartfelt celebration of
trees and a graceful call to let their patient wildness grow back
through the openings in our minds.”—China Galland, author of
Longing for Darkness
“We measure the richness of our lives by the friends we are
privileged to make and keep. In Conversations with Trees, Stephanie
Kaza introduces us to new friends—mysterious, simple, dying,
working, lovely friends—friends for life, if you wish. She gives us
the gifts of fact, spirit, role, and beauty of trees.”—Michael
Fischer, former Executive Director, Sierra Club
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