Welcome to Shinrindo: The Way of the Woods

Eight minutes is about all the time you have to live without oxygen, one week without water; and one month without food. All these elements: air, water, food are products of forest. Forests are not just the lungs, the filters and the soil makers of the planet, they are the pharmacy, the building materials, the heat, and for over 4 millennia the engine and basis of civilization.

Even today with our wealth of new materials, communication technologies and energy sources, we still prefer to build houses and furniture in wood; to read books of paper, and warm our wintering nights with log fires.

It seems backward to write it that way, “not just the lungs,” however, our modern world has become backwards in so many ways, that you cannot convince people that the basics of life are not reason enough to protect forests, they need economic explanations. However, as Naomi Klein wrote there is no economy without ecology.

This blog aims to look at the importance of forests and the wealth of health benefits, mental and physical they provide, the biodiversity, the essence of life on earth itself. You can hope to find history, fun anecdotes, forest stories, places, biology, hiking places, meditation and imagination exercises and more here.

Hope you enjoy.