An alternative (and occasional) music posting highlighting something out of the ordinary. Perhaps of limited appeal, unconventional, experimental or just far-out ! Call it what you like (or switch it off, if you don't like). 

C e l e b r a t i n g  T R E E S

-  a love of and a new knowledge too  -

While not necessarily seeing myself as a 'tree hugger' I realise if you consider Margaret's nickname from her South African days then that is exactly what I am: a 'Tree' hugger 😊

But that is something else. It was whilst travelling on a train from the south coast that I found myself thinking about all the trees I could see passing me by through the window. The sheer numbers and varieties, seemed incredible. We're talking evolution timelines and silly numbers here: millions and then billions of years. 

🌍 As a guide: First 'modern' human - Homo sapiens arrive some 300,000 years ago.

🍃 While trees have been on our planet about 380,000,000 years (380 Million).

🌐 Globally, there are estimated to be 3.04 trillion trees, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature. This means that there are roughly 422 trees for every person on earth.

🌱 There are over 73,000 different species of trees on Earth 🌐 

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING

The earliest trees were tree ferns, horsetails and lycophytes, which grew in forests in the Carboniferous period. The first tree may have been Wattieza, fossils of which have been found in New York State in 2007 dating back to the Middle Devonian (about 385 million years ago). During the Mesozoic (245 to 66 million years ago) the conifers flourished and became adapted to live in all the major terrestrial habitats. Subsequently, the tree forms of flowering plants evolved during the Cretaceous period. These began to displace the conifers during the Tertiary era (66 to 2 million years ago) when forests covered the globe. When the climate cooled 1.5 million years ago and the first of four ice ages occurred, the forests retreated as the ice advanced. In the interglacials, trees recolonised the land that had been covered by ice, only to be driven back again in the next ice age. 

And then there's Oxygen

The Origin of Oxygen in Earth's Atmosphere is tiny organisms known as cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. These microbes conduct photosynthesis: using sunshine, water and carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates and oxygen. Earth's atmospheric fills with oxygen about 2.4 billion years ago. 

Finally some appropriate music: Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider with 'Under The Trees of Hope' > 

From his 1997 'Kryptos' Album, which I first heard on a plane to America. Must be something about being 35,000 feet up in the air surrounded by clouds, because I remember feeling overwelmed. Amazing track - magnificent [like trees]  

For the love of Tree