Breathing with Trees
April 26, Turku
Yesterday’s dérive through the city streets pulled me into a forest I had never visited before. Only a 30-minute walk from the center, and suddenly the buildings dissolved, replaced by the thick green breath of the forest.
Like an oasis found after a long drought. The forest swallows me whole, and I let it.
Yet even in this shelter, another layer stirs. I recently read an article (Leaf absorption contributes to accumulation of microplastics in plants) showing that trees absorb microplastics directly through their leavess. Standing under the canopy, I could not unsee this: the trees breathing in plastic, adapting, persisting.
I wonder—do trees process microplastics in a way that helps other living beings adjust too?
Are they gentler mediators of pollution compared to tyres, to raw air?
Could a country like Finland, with its deep forest cover, lead research into this secret labor of trees?
Breathing alongside them, I feel a shift: my body inhaling and exhaling differently, sensing an unknown correspondence unfolding between bodies and atmospheres.
If trees are adapting by embodying and opening space for plastic waste within their very bodies, what might humans still grasp from their silent labor?
I would love to hear your thoughts 🌿
#UrbanNature #ForestWalks #SensoryEthnography #AtmosphericEncounters #DriftingInTheCity #MoreThanHumanWorld #Microplastics #PlasticEntanglements #PlasticEcologies #ThinkingWithTrees #EmbodiedLandscapes #MaterialSensibilities #NonHumanRelations #EnvironmentalAffect