With the latest round of UN climate talks wrapping up recently, it’s a good time to ask a fundamental question: Who are we, in relation to nature? What kinds of relationships bind us to other beings, like trees?
Maybe even amid climate change we can approach nature with celebration – even veneration?
Dr Mahesh White Radhakrishnan is a musician, an ethnomusicologist and anthropological linguist at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and a member of the group Hindus for Human Rights – Australia and New Zealand. They are also part of the ABC’s Top Five Arts media residency program. Their music can be found on YouTube.
Louise Fowler-Smith is the founder of the Tree Veneration Society in Australia and author of the book Sacred Trees of India: Adornment and Adoration as an Alternative to the Commodification of Nature.