In Japan, they have a name for it

The Japanese practice of “forest bathing” (shinrin yoku) is a great way to relax and de-stress. With good reason. Research shows that spending time around trees can reduce stress, improve immunity, lower blood pressure, and accelerate recovery from illness or trauma.

It’s hardly a new fad. Henry David Thoreau sang the praises of trees and forests 170 years ago. The author of Walden, or, A Life in the Woods, Thoreau wrote about his “inexpressible happiness” in forests and nature. He called trees his friends and “distant relations.” Every tree, he wrote, “sends its fibres forth in search of the wild” — and therein, he believed, lay the preservation of the world. How right he was.

Why forest bathing?

Because nature is relaxing and trees are profoundly calming, forest bathing is good for body and soul. In a forest, surrounded by trees, we slow down, de-stress, feel part of the world, and tune in to natural beauty and our inner selves.

There are also scientific explanations. When you bathe in a forest or hug a tree, your body releases a hormone called oxytocin – known as the hormone of love and trust – which gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling. You also inhale a dose of phytoncides, the micro substances excreted by plants and trees to protect themselves from bugs. And these arboreal essential oils work to lower the stress hormones in your blood stream. Talk about aromatherapy.

Of course, not everyone feels that way. Today, trees are sacred to some, disposable to others. One person’s warm and fuzzy is another person’s warmth and firewood.

Talking about a revolution

Indeed, there’s a climate revolution going on, a strikingly stark divide — a world divided by climate change. Reforestation versus deforestation. Long-term environment versus short-term profit. Trees, net zero, sustainability, green consciousness… versus leaving our grandchildren an uninhabitable planet.

Climate elections the world over

Elections around the world will hold a mirror to this growing climate divide. British voters will have the opportunity to vote for a Prime Minister and climate policy in July. Sunak and the Tories are openly hostile towards net zero, having rolled back key climate policies and made plans to “max out” oil production. Britain's Labour party, Liberal Democrats and Green Party on the other hand, all take a more proactive and progressive approach, believing that pursuing net zero is not only the right thing to do but a source of economic growth and may well bring down the cost of living.

The European Parliament's June elections saw a shift to the right and away from clean energy. A more climate-sceptical EU Parliament could seek loopholes to weaken climate laws and weaken the body's “Green Deal” targets for 2030 and beyond.  ​

The battle quietly rages

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Mexico recently elected a climate scientist as president. Claudia Sheinbaum was part of the United Nations panel of climate scientists that won a Nobel Peace Prize. On the campaign trail, she promised to spend $14 billion in clean energy initiatives and boost electric buses and trains in Mexico.

Donald Trump, not surprisingly, has weighed in. At separate dinners with oil-and-gas executives at Mar-a-Lago and Houston in May, Trump offered to reverse dozens of President Biden’s climate regulations in return for a billion dollars in campaign money. We can assume Trump will continue to ask fossil-fuel executives to fund his political campaign. His promise is clear: build a wall but tear down a forest. The next American election will be, among other things, a climate election.

Maybe climate change isn’t on the ballot in India or China or Russia (it should be), but the environment is and will be voted on in much of Europe and North America. Chances are it’s on the ballot coming soon to a polling station near you.

What do we think? As Peter Wohlleben observes in The Power of Trees: “The future of forests and the future of humanity are inextricably entwined.”

Let’s bathe in forests, let’s plant trees — and let’s vote for our planet.