These are frightening, enraging and uncertain days, and we need each other in community more than ever – both for our individual well-being, and for our collective change-making and movement-building. To bring forth my best in these traumatic times, I feel I have to strengthen and center myself, to act more effectively on behalf of the people and places I most love. Trees have become a great help in this quest.

I am convinced that today’s emerging leaders will ultimately succeed in ushering in far more enlightened times. And it’s important to note that much of the progress we have made in the past few decades is still in place — even though we still face many challenges.

We’re charged with cleaning out the stables of a misbegotten, decaying civilization — composting it into fertility — and replanting it with new growth. This is a transformative and traumatic moment — a time of rise and demise. How we navigate the pathways forward will set the course for decades and centuries to come.