Teaching the Trees: Reading Questions
I. Pages 1-47
1) Read the poem “The Way In” by Rilke on the frontpiece of the book. What do you think the poem is recommending its reader should do?
2) What are the scientific notions behind the concept of “Old Growth Air”? What are the philosophical conclusions Maloof draws from these scientific notions?
3) In what way, if at all, are you prepared to become a teacher of snails?
4) Which of the trees discussed in the first reading is your favorite? Why? Find out more about it on the web. And see if there’s one here on campus. Information on SU Trees
5) Do pine trees deserve to go to heaven? Why or why not?
6) What two different perspectives can be taken on the southern pine bark beetle? Is either preferable? Why or why not?
Lance’s Question on Weston, Chapter 1: The author describes Al Gore’s claim of ‘loneliness’
and ‘our addiction’ as “extraordinary coming from a contemporary
politician.” However, the author does
not describe Gore’s liberal philosophy.
Why is there such political animosity between Democrats and Republicans
about “saving the environment?”
Environmentalism has become a “dirty word”
that is used by Republicans and their constituents’ to represent everything
evil about government regulation and interference. They claim that it infringes
upon individual rights of ownership and property. However, the environmental political issue is
not a recent liberal phenomenon. It was
actually the program of conservative reactionaries in Nazi Germany.
The environmental movement became the
cornerstone of the Nazi ideology of blood and soil! The ecofascist
program was expounded by Arndt, Riehl and Darr. In fact, the
first law passed in
The Nazis’ rejected the attitude that
“nature had been created only for man.”
In Mein Kampf, Hitler
wrote: “When people attempt to rebel
against the iron logic of nature, they come into conflict with the very same
principles to which they owe their existence as human beings. Their actions against nature must lead to
their own downfall.”
II. Pages 48-96/Terry Tempest
Williams Interview I
1) What is a “grandfather tree”? Can you think of a particular one you’ve “met”?
2) What sort of time-scale must we be willing to live on, if we are to care for trees? Do you think this is feasible for our culture? Why or why not?
3) Which of the trees discussed in the second reading is your favorite? Why? Find out more about it on the web. And see if there’s one here on campus. Information on SU Trees
4) Discuss the red maple paradox.
5) What is masting? Why might that occur? (For the last half of this questions, you’ll need to go to the internet).
6) How are we engaged in a “dumbing down” of the forest? What might be its effects on human perceptions of the forest?
7) What does Joanna Macy mean by “deep time”?
8) What does Terry Tempest Williams mean when she says the most radical act might be “to stay at home”?
III. Pages 97-142/Terry
Tempest Williams Interview II
1) What
was the county government’s attitude about the forest near Joan’s house? How did she counter that attitude with the
September 11th
2) Which of the trees discussed in the third reading is your favorite? Why? Find out more about it on the web. And see if there’s one here on campus. Information on SU Trees
3) Why is not enough to read about trees in order to know them?
4) Do you think our culture is sufficiently caring for what Maloof calls “things of this world”? Why or why not?
5) Terry Tempest Williams speaks of the “Clan of One Breasted Women”? What does she mean by this image? Is cancer a natural or human made phenomenon?
6) Why is radiation pollution, as well as other forms of pollution, so distressing to a pregnant woman? Should there a “contract” between society and pregnant women to prove the latter with a clean environment? Why or why not? What sort of “contract” would this be?