Seven Trees

and Convivial Life

in Endelevu

Recently seven trees were standing in front of

a house in Endelevu Swahili for sustainability

Life was good and well balanced for all animal

and plant life Even the birds butterf lies and

bats really enjoyed all the green leaves had

great dinners and parties with lots of other

animals while the plants and trees were

nodding and waving their branches to each

other In fact the singing bird named Rica who

was clearly most often heard was having a

birthday party today for all family and friends

at the oldest tree Rica clearly a shining star

with multicolored feathers was well prepared

Nice f lower decorations and small leaves and

branches were turned into party snacks So

when the party was ongoing and everyone had

a great time a dark cloud appeared in the sky

It darkened the sun so that the lights were

low and animal party guests and even the old

tree were shivering from fear Rica suddenly

stopped singing

A man in black clothes proclaimed from a

pamphlet that he was staging on the tree

this tree and the six others around it will be

completely beheaded cut down and will end

up in the shredder because they are standing

in the way of the house and are disturbing

ongoing human life The downwarping of all

seven trees will start tomorrow as soon as it

becomes light But why so were weeping

the trees and the birds the butterf lies and

the bats You can appeal at the high court of

Endelevu if you think your rights have been

violated was the last thing the man in black

clothes said while he quickly ran away hiding in

the house The sun was setting and darkness

fell over the seven trees and all life within it

All the animals and plants came together that

night and had a lively chat about the bad habits

of the inhabitants as apparent guardians of

Endelevu How many years had they witnessed

the mowing and cutting of trees the killing

of their relatives without prior warning

They even had multiple agreements with

the inhabitants of the house to respect each

other But the latest proclamation f itted in a

longterm destructive attitude of the guardians

of Endelevu against their Nature they had in

common despite the promises they made in

earlier agreements The meeting lasted until

far after midnight when all birds butterf lies

and bats and all the other animals disappeared

between the receding and waving goodbye

Even Rica who had almost forgotten that

she had a birthday party went to sleep with a

relaxing smile on her beautiful feathered face

When the morning appeared and the f irst

faint beams of indirect sunlight faded the dark

night colors away it appeared that the man

in black had returned with a group of six men

who were holding up three chain saws that

could be used remotely While the f irst group

started to put the chain saw in the f irst tree an

enormous sound emerged while all seven men

were blinded by a wave of branches leaves as

well as birds butterf lies and bats The seven

men stood back and looked before them in

astonishment while all their friends beloved

ones and children came standing next to them

The birds who have been making noise before

were silent the butterf lies were now joyfully

making a colored spectrum in the morning

light and the bats were hanging invisibly now

in the deepest part of trees as well as below

the roof gutter of the house The trees plants

and f lowers were blooming in diversity and

bending and hanging over the house The

environment looked very stable integrated and

happy as it was forever Rica the multicolored

singing bird sang the last famous words To

all animals plants and trees and humans

that are living in Endelevu we are driven

towards collaboration interconnectedness

and interdependency as we try supplement

our desire to fulf ill our endless possibilities

through conviviality

Sjoerd Kluiving

Sjoerd Kluiving is an associate professor in

geoarchaeology and Anthropocene studies at

VU Amsterdam and First Distinguished Fellow

of the Anthropocene He studies the deep

history of landscapes humannature relations

and transitions into a sustainable society

researchvunlenpersonssjoerdkluiving

publications

wwwlinkedincominsjoerdkluiving2142859

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environmentalhumanitiescentercom

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Sjoerd

Kluiving