PINK EBONY ON THE KAW MOUNTAIN

There is still so much to discover about the intelligence of plants. Do we truly understand that forests and water are inseparable? Forests filter pollutants, store them, or break them down. They act like sponges, absorbing water during floods and releasing it in times of drought.
Forests are the mothers of rain. Trees transpire, drawing water from their roots and releasing it as vapor. They also produce compounds that seed clouds, helping vapor turn into water that flows and nourishes life.
Plants connect water, air, Earth, and the Sun. They are the cornerstone of the living system on which we all depend. Forests are the guardians of the climate. They store more carbon than the entire Earth's atmosphere.
Three hundred million people live in the world’s forests. Another 1.6 billion—nearly one in four humans—depend on them directly for their daily survival. And all 7 billion of us rely on them for the services they provide. Forests produce the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the medicines that heal us.
We must see the forest differently. We are inseparable from it. We have always needed it—but today, it is the forest that needs us. Let us stand tall like great trees and live together like a thriving forest.

Excerpt from the film Of Forests and Men by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Co-written with the GoodPlanet Foundation and Isabelle Delannoy
© 2011 GoodPlanet Foundation