Living Tree
Educational Foundation

“If you are thinking a year ahead, sow seed.
“If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree.
“If you are thinking one hundred years ahead, educate people.
“By sowing seed once, you will harvest once.
“By planting a tree, you will harvest tenfold.
“By educating people, you will harvest one hundredfold.”

- anonymous Chinese poet, 4th Century BC

Trees at the Heart of All that Matters

Trees are at the heart of all the important issues of our time: ecological, economic, social, and spiritual. They are the basis upon which human life and civilization stand, and they are absolutely crucial for our survival and prosperity.

see more: Basic Recognitions

Since the true nature and many values of trees are not widely understood, it is our mission to provide a holistic education that includes the following elements:

The Value of Living Trees

Living trees and woodlands provide many benefits. Their contributions to us include their roles in reversing climate change; decreasing pollution; preventing floods, droughts, and other natural disasters; providing food, medicine, a habitat for wildlife and a more sustainable agriculture; and creating a healing, inspiring, and recreational space for human body and soul.

see more: Value of Living Trees
and Tree Economics
and Forest Farming & Gardening
and Multi-Purpose Forestry

Nature: an Ideal Educational Environment

Typical schools function in a bubble, with the students totally disconnected from nature and the world around them, resulting in a condition becoming known as nature-deficit disorder. This has dire consequences when it results in decision-making without a sense of the great beauty and complexity of relationships in the natural world. We provide an in-nature education, in a woodland setting. see more: Education in Nature

Respect for Sacredness

In 1990, two hundred and seventy scientific leaders from eighty-three nations signed a petition declaring: “We understand that what is regarded as sacred is more likely to be treated with care and respect. Our planetary home should be so regarded. Efforts to safeguard and cherish the environment need to be infused with a vision of the sacred.” We are creating not only an educational setting in a woodland, but also a sacred environment.

see more: Sacred Groves

Exploring the Creative Intelligence in Nature

For too long, science and academia have functioned within an entirely materialistic paradigm, denying any intelligence at work in nature despite all evidence to the contrary. Following the pioneering work of forward-thinking scientists and other visionary individuals, we are exploring the Creative Intelligence within Nature and the possibility and benefits of working with that intelligence.

see more: Trees: Their True Nature
and: Tree Esoterics

University of the Living Tree

There exists no institution of higher education that includes all the elements above. Existing forestry programs are largely devoted to an outdated, unsustainable approach to land-management. The primary aim of the Living Tree Educational Foundation is to bring into being a new type of university that provides an in-nature education founded on the recognitions and elements above.

see more: Tree University

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