By Tim Clancy.
And now for something completely different. So, for whatever reason you can't venture out and admire trees. Yet you need to get your tree fix. What to do? What to do?
Well one option is to fire up your browser and cruise on over the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive is on an ambitious mission to provide "universal access to all knowledge". The archive is a non-profit digital collection of books, movies, software and in its Wayback Machine millions of web pages. It is a free service and can be accessed at www.archive.org.
Once there you can search for any topic you can think of. Since this column is about trees that was the subject of my search. Oh boy, some interesting results were returned. Of course, because of the generality of the search term items related to trees in name only were included. It is there I "discovered'" a band named Fever Tree. They released four albums of psychedelic rock (a personal favorite genre) in the 1960s. A further search of the term fever tree introduced me to a tree previously unknown to me. The Vachellia xanthophloea (synonym Acacia xanthophloea) commonly known as the Fever tree. Rudyard Kipling refers to fever trees in "The Elephants Child".
One of the search results was a goofy animation titled Tree House and can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/youtube-Cet4g89b6Ps Lemonade is a favorite around our house and sure enough you can view movie named Romance of a Lemon. Don't be fooled though, it's not about the amorous activities at a used car dealership it's actually about harvesting lemons. It is a silent feature from 1927 and can be viewed here https://archive.org/details/Romanceo1927 There is also Tree Saps, a 1931 Talkartoon that I am not quite sure what to make of and it can be viewed here https://archive.org/details/TreeSaps1932Talkartoon
How about a short black and white documentary about Black Woodpeckers and how they build their nest in a tree. This 1961 German gem can be seen here https://archive.org/details/breedingbiologyofblackwoodpeckers
Forty years ago, Cornell University published an educational film titled Sidewalks of Shade. It's worth viewing and sharing as it emphasizes many of the benefits of trees. Here is its location https://archive.org/details/sidewalksofshade
Vincent Van Gogh's painting "Olive Trees" can be admired in digital form at the following address https://archive.org/details/mma_olive_trees_437998
and "Women Picking Olives" can be viewed here https://archive.org/details/mma_women_picking_olives_436536
If you decide to search the TV News archive for "Tree" you will be presented with several hundred thousand results where you can watch people talk about trees until your heart's content. Next time I can't sleep I may employ that tactic.
When appropriate I often recommend retention of dead trees to be used and a "habitat tree". A short 1957 nature film "Life on a Dead Tree" can be seen at https://archive.org/details/LifeOnADeadTree.
A Tree Rap can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/cocoh-Tree_Rap. It's a performance by four of Tanya Wright's 4th Grade Students from Trevitt Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio. Watch and listen to the video then turn on the closed captioning for a little amusement.
The Internet archive is a great place to get lost in whatever subject you type in the search bar and I will close with a link to the tree that owns itself. So, designated by a Mr. William H. Jackson in 1910 and memorialized with a marble inscription. Check it out here https://archive.org/details/4986456195_42d7818070_o
Tim Clancy & Associates LLC
P.O. Box 1180 – Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA 92007 International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist No. WE-0806A International Society of Arboriculture - Tree Risk Assessment Qualified