Editorial: Keep the community
Credit: Annie Spratt/Unsplash

Editorial: Keep the community

As COVID-19 upends life across the country, the natural world offers lessons in remaining resilient and emerging stronger

Venture in any forest—from your city park to swaths of protected old growth—and you will see trees both big and small, young and old, and of different species all standing together.


Trees support one another—sharing nutrients through root systems, allowing for space within the canopy for others to reach some sun, sending "scent messages" out to other trees when pests are gnawing on bark.

"A tree is not a forest," writes Peter Wohlleben, in his best-selling 2015 book, The Hidden Life of Trees.This is a simple but important point: trees understand that together they create a strong ecosystem that can withstand upheaval in the form of storms, heat and pests.

Alone, a single tree stands no chance; the power, value and resilience lie in the group.

As a nation, and world, currently battling a mysterious virus targeting the most vulnerable among us, we'd be best served to take this lesson of community from trees. They've been here a lot longer than we have.

The three-pronged crisis — the virus itself, the lack of communication and response, and the panic — has fomented ugly breakdowns in community. Price gouging. Xenophobia. Hoarding of supplies. Ignoring of warnings, leading to people gathering in large groups to drink, eat, and socialize.

We cannot control the virus but we can control our reaction. We can remain communities.

A large percentage of us can weather this without much discomfort. There will be burdens and interruptions, but we have the financial means and health to get through this.

But every community is full of those who cannot. Grandparents who raised us and sacrificed for us, who are now alone. Disabled people who, even in good times, face challenges in getting groceries. People with pre-existing health conditions for whom this virus could be a tipping point.

"Even sick individuals are supported and nourished until they recover," Wohlleben writes of tree communities. "Next time, perhaps it will be the other way around and the supporting tree might be the one in need of assistance."

It is incumbent on us to use this moment to make sure food and necessities are available for all of us. There has been no indication that the food supply chain or water resources will be impacted, so to unnecessarily hoard is to hurt your neighbor.

We need to check on those who are alone and probably scared. Maybe it's time for a phone or video call instead of a text, or a good time as any to start playing an online game with Grandma.

The bars and restaurants can wait. Even if you're healthy, your gathering puts others in danger and prolongs the crisis. Why not instead go take a hike? Or just figure out what kind of tree that is in your front yard.

On a broader scale, this crisis should make plain that the notion of borders is meaningless to the natural world.

Viruses don't care about the political lines we draw on a map.

It's not "us" and "them." It's a global community.

And to rise to the challenge it is time to look to the trees and plants—putting aside our individualistic urges and selfishness and asking ourselves how we can contribute to the buoying of our local, regional and global community.

In Wohlleben's early days as a forester, he would kill some trees by removing a strip of bark, depriving it of necessary sugars. This is supposed to cause roots to starve as the transportation system is broken.

However, he found many of these trees still grew. Some trees even grew bark back.

"I know now that this was only possible with the help of intact neighboring trees," he writes.

Many of our neighbors will be stricken with physical and mental pain over the coming weeks and months.

Let's take a lesson from the forests and act selflessly so our neighbors, like the girdled trees, can emerge stronger and lift our community.

Have an uplifting story of community amid the COVID-19 crisis that you'd like to share? Write our senior editor Brian Bienkowski at bbienkowski@ehn.org.

A man and woman in suits shake hands with flags of the United States, USAID and the Environmental Protection. Agency in the background.

EPA staff face pressure to resign as Trump reshapes environmental agency

As the Trump administration aggressively works to overhaul the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 300 career employees have already left, while those remaining face mounting pressure to quit or work under an administration determined to roll back environmental protections.

Sharon Lerner and Pratheek Rebala report for ProPublica.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
California condor with a numbered wing band soaring against a cloud-streaked sky.
Credit: Larry Koester/Flickr

California condors take flight again, but survival isn’t guaranteed

After nearly vanishing from the wild, the California condor is soaring over North America once more, thanks to a decades-long conservation effort spanning the U.S. and Mexico — but keeping the species alive remains an uphill battle.

Iván Carrillo reports for Knowable Magazine.

Keep reading...Show less
A diverse group of protesters holding signs in support of science stand at a barricade.
Credit: Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr

Trump’s EPA shake-up puts pollution controls in jeopardy

The Biden administration tightened pollution rules and expanded air monitoring in toxic hotspots, but Trump’s return threatens to unravel those efforts, leaving vulnerable communities exposed to industrial pollution.

Lisa Song reports for ProPublica.

Keep reading...Show less
A Sámi woman in a fur hat feeds a reindeer from a bucket against a snowy mountain backdrop.
Credit: Lorie Shaull/Flickr

Climate change is erasing Indigenous languages along with biodiversity

A warming world isn’t just changing landscapes—it’s stripping away words. The Sámi people of northern Scandinavia, whose language holds an intricate vocabulary for snow and reindeer, are watching their words vanish alongside their environment.

Julia Webster Ayuso reports for NOĒMA.

Keep reading...Show less
Arctic land and ice on a sunny day.

Arctic temperatures spike far beyond normal, nearing melting point

Temperatures at the North Pole soared more than 20° Celsius above average, briefly nearing the melting point in the dead of winter and alarming climate scientists.

Ajit Niranjan reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
Trump EPA rollbacks
Credit: Peg Hunter/Flickr

Trump administration closes environmental offices, reshaping federal policy

The Trump administration is swiftly shutting down environmental initiatives, placing dozens of employees on leave and dismantling key offices within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department.

Maxine Joselow and Amudalat Ajasa report for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
A snowplow drives down a snow street.
Credit: Metropolitan Transportation/Flickr

U.S. Mid-Atlantic leaders plan for climate disasters as federal funding faces cuts

Pennsylvania saw a record number of billion-dollar weather disasters in 2024, prompting officials and experts to gather in Philadelphia to discuss emergency preparedness as the federal government threatens funding cuts.

Kiley Bense reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

People  sitting in an outdoors table working on a big sign.

Op-ed: Why funding for the environmental justice movement must be anti-racist

We must prioritize minority-serving institutions, BIPOC-led organizations and researchers to lead environmental justice efforts.

joe biden

Biden finalizes long-awaited hydrogen tax credits ahead of Trump presidency

Responses to the new rules have been mixed, and environmental advocates worry that Trump could undermine them.

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Prisons, jails and detention centers are placed in locations where environmental hazards such as toxic landfills, floods and extreme heat are the norm.

Agents of Change in Environmental Justice logo

LISTEN: Reflections on the first five years of the Agents of Change program

The leadership team talks about what they’ve learned — and what lies ahead.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.