“I process 22 kg of carbon dioxide per year. In return I ask
only one thing – let me live. Don’t cut me down.”
I saw this sign on a cardboard hanging on a tree. A nice and
noble sentiment. We all love trees, don’t we? Especially nowadays when everybody speaks about saving the
environment, fighting the pollution, etc. Trees are natural wealth. They
provide shade. Also, there are many holy trees, especially in India. When you
go on a parikram in the land of Bharat it seems that all the holly
places have a special tree under which something significant happened. Lord
Caitanya was born under a tree. Buddha got enlightenment under a tree. They say
that the Bhagavad-gita was spoken under a tree. When demons want to
create havoc in human society one of the methods they employ is cutting down
the trees, especially the fruit trees. You can see this demoniac strategy in
action in Srimad-Bhagavatam (the chapter ‘Hiranyakashipu Terrorizes the
Universe’ in the Seventh Canto) and even in The Lord of the Rings.
Still, the text hanging on that tree was upsetting. Strangely
enough, it felt like some kind of microaggression. It ascribed certain value on
that tree – it processes carbon dioxide, 22 kg of it. This is good for us,
humans. Therefore, because it does something valuable for us, it has the right
to live. What if it processed not 22 kg
but only 18 kg? Or 6? Or, theoretically, not at all? Does it mean that it does
not have the right to exist then? It so happened that we value oxygen more than
carbon dioxide in air. What if it was the opposite?
Who gives us, humans, the right to decide whether and under
what conditions another living entity is allowed to live? Did we make the trees
and animals? No, we just found them around, they were given to us with a
purpose. If this is so we should enquire what that purpose is and how to deal
with these entities properly. That is, we should not whimsically interfere with
their life and their very existence.
Trees, animals, planet Earth herself have intrinsic value in
them. It does not depend on whether humans ascribe to them such value or not,
or to what extend. Every living entity has the right to live even if according
to superficial human calculations it has no purpose whatsoever. (Purpose here
means simply that humans can’t find a way to exploit any given creature in a
way that brings a tangible economic result.)
Humans are not in the center of this Universe; God and His
laws are. Trees are meant to serve mankind according to God’s laws; this does
not mean however that humans can exploit them as they please. If they do so
they will have to pay. This applies not only to trees but also to all living
beings on the planet. Trees are nice not because they are useful for us; they
are nice because God made them nice. God is kind; therefore, trees are useful
for men. Not that trees are useful for men, therefore, they are nice and should
be protected. There is a difference.
Srila Prabhupada once said that trees should not be cut down
except if they are used to print spiritual books that revive our relationship
with God. This is the Universal standard for tree protection.
So the sign should say: “I am a spirit soul in a body of a
tree and have a God-given right to peacefully finish my life span. You could
cut me down only if you use my body to print transcendental literature
glorifying the Lord and pure unalloyed devotional service. Otherwise you will
have to meet the Yamadutas.”
That is the God’s version. Krishna is the original
tree-maker and trees’ best friend. In Bhagavad-gita 5.29 He says:
“A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the
ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all
planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living
entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.”
