Reinventing Old Rituals For Modern Times to Reconnect with the Natural World
3 ancient nature rituals that deserve a comeback
The city of Melbourne wanted to make it easier for its residents to report potential tree hazards such as dangerous branches. So in 2013, the city assigned the city’s trees individual ID numbers and email addresses. The idea was that Melburnians could help city officials more easily identify potential problem trees.
But that’s not quite what happened.
Instead, residents sent their favorite trees thousands of greetings, love letters, stories, or just updates on everyday happenings in their lives.
For example, here’s one email:
To: Green Leaf Elm, Tree ID 1022165
29 May 2015
Dear Green Leaf Elm,
I hope you like living at St. Mary’s. Most of the time I like it too. I have exams coming up and I should be busy studying. You do not have exams because you are a tree. I don’t think that there is much more to talk about as we don’t have a lot in common, you being a tree and such. But I’m glad we’re in this together.
Cheers,
F
And the tree responded!!
29 May 2015
