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A veritable rainforest of cheering revelations - March 27 - 11.25am - 2022

Environmentalist Fred Pearce says trees DO have a future

Out all the wonderful events and talks scheduled for this 10-day festival, Fred Pearce’s ‘A Trillion Trees: How Can We Reforest Our World’ was the the one I was most looking forward to. Which came as a surprise to me since I’m not a natural, ‘instinctive’ environmentalist. For some reason though I immediately circled this event in red. And it didn’t disappoint. Fred Pearce is so unassuming as an environmental commentator (he’s been the environmental consultant of New Scientist since 1992 and written 14 books on the subject) that it was impossible not to warm to him. A sort of David Attenborough of Forests, he started as he meant to go on: quietly, understated, peppering his gentle presentation with a blitz of fascinating revelations which, most astonishing of small, weren’t all doom and gloom True, initially he marked out the ground of just where we, and trees, stand today. “Trees,” he started “are in our collective consciousness from ‘Lord of The Rings’ and ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ to fairy tales, creating a folklore memory of both wonder and scary places. Consequently we both love and fear them. And as someone once noted: ‘They are capable of outliving not just single individuals but whole civilisations’”. From this launching pad, he did initially focus on the bleaker aspects of how trees and human beings have interacted, and clearly it’s nothing to be proud of. Eloquently, he illustrated this part of his talk with some appropriately desolate observations: “In many forests chainsaws have replaced the sound of birdsong” But quickly, and reassuringly, he turned the conversation to the more positive future that trees could, with help, inhabit. And surprisingly, he suggested that in many instances, if we just “give them the room” rather than focus on replanting, “Nature will mostly fill it for us. She knows which trees to plant and remember, she’s been doing this for millions of years.” Utterly captivating and calmly consoling without ever stooping to ‘preachy’, this was a superbly invigorating 60 minutes that offered hope amid the current sea of gloomy prediction.
The Telegraph Festival media partner University of Oxford European Union Supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the UK Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Oxford Mathematics Spanish Embassy The Spanish Embassy: supporters of the programme of Spanish literature and culture Cervantes Institute, London The Cervantes Institute, London elBullifoundation Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Compassion in World Farming Pasture to Plate Oxford Business College Where learning meets opportunity: education partners of the festival Old Bank Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Old Parsonage Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Oxford Brookes University Oxford International Centre for Publishing Critchleys Accountants to the festival Confucius Institute Voltaire Foundation Felicity Bryan Associates Goldmoney Properties Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner. Celebrating 25 years in Europe in 2024 Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Jewish Book Week Partner of Oxford Literary Festival Jim Mellon Miles Young Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Ian and Carol Sellars David Isaac Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Other donors Yale University Press London New College New College founded 1379 Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival. Founded 1314 Worcester College Worcester College founded 1714 Lincoln College Lincoln College founded 1427 Trinity College Trinity College founded 1555 Magdalen College Magdalen College founded 1458 Reuben College Reuben College founded in 2019 Pusey House Founded 1884 Brasenose College Brasenose College founded in 1512 New Dutch Writing Human Ecology Project MACROVegan Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Oxford University Images Oxford University Images CAV Oxford The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Windrush Group The Oxford Times BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Conference Oxford Ox in a Box OX magazine

The Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

The Telegraph Festival media partner University of Oxford European Union Supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the UK Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Oxford Mathematics Spanish Embassy The Spanish Embassy: supporters of the programme of Spanish literature and culture Cervantes Institute, London The Cervantes Institute, London elBullifoundation Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Compassion in World Farming Pasture to Plate Oxford Business College Where learning meets opportunity: education partners of the festival Old Bank Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Old Parsonage Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Oxford Brookes University Oxford International Centre for Publishing Critchleys Accountants to the festival Confucius Institute Voltaire Foundation Felicity Bryan Associates Goldmoney Properties Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner. Celebrating 25 years in Europe in 2024 Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Jewish Book Week Partner of Oxford Literary Festival Jim Mellon Miles Young Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Ian and Carol Sellars David Isaac Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Other donors Yale University Press London New College New College founded 1379 Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival. Founded 1314 Worcester College Worcester College founded 1714 Lincoln College Lincoln College founded 1427 Trinity College Trinity College founded 1555 Magdalen College Magdalen College founded 1458 Reuben College Reuben College founded in 2019 Pusey House Founded 1884 Brasenose College Brasenose College founded in 1512 New Dutch Writing Human Ecology Project MACROVegan Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Oxford University Images Oxford University Images CAV Oxford The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Windrush Group The Oxford Times BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Conference Oxford Ox in a Box OX magazine