All language subtitles for The Hidden Life Of Trees (2020)_en

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Peter Wohlleben,
here's my first question.

Which tree would you like to be,
and why?

A beech tree.

Not necessarily
because I love beech trees so much,

but because it is our native species,
and it has languished a bit of late.

It is also
very family-oriented and social.

It likes to be in groups
and takes care of its offspring.

I'm fond of family too,
so I find beech trees very pleasant.

But they have a hard core.

Me too!

THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES

It all started
with a terrific bestseller

about a topic that initially sounds
about as spectacular

as an essay on sour milk.

It is about trees, about the forest.

I welcome Peter Wohlleben.
I'm so glad you're here.

His book about the life of trees
has been published in 40 countries.

It currently tops
the bestseller list in France,

and for two years now this forester

has been Germany's most-read
non-fiction author.

Timewise, forests have existed
for 300 million years,

people for 300,000 years
and foresters for 300.

Nature did it alone most of that time
and still excels at it.

So we can learn a lot from nature,

because it has existed
for so much longer than us.

What should human beings
learn from nature?

First and foremost, to relax.
We don't have to always feel guilty.

Peter, should we all get
a photo together on the balcony?

A family portrait?

After my forest tours
people kept asking,

"Can I read up on this?"
I just said, "Sorry, no."

My wife said, "Peter, write it down."
"I don't want to." "Just ten pages."

"No, I don't want to,"
but eventually I gave in.

"Fine, I'll write about a tour
and send it out.

If no publisher wants it,
that's that."

Then you wrote it down
in your first book.

That wasn't
the big bestseller, that was...

That was "The Hidden Life of Trees".

It was the 16th book.
I mean, I had never learned to do it.

Good evening.
My name is Peter Wohlleben.

I'm delighted
I was asked to come here tonight,

although, I'll tell you this now,
I never do readings.

That's because I don't really write.
That is, I...

It's the truth.
I'm not kidding you.

I'm actually a forester.

You started your first job at 27.

It was basically
a lifetime government job.

What were
your expectations and feelings

when you first went to Hümmel?

I started managing the forest
as I had learned

and quickly realized
it didn't feel right.

I didn't get why, because I'd learned
you have to regenerate the forest,

cut down trees and plant new ones
in an endless cycle.

Then I noticed
that was the timber industry.

I said, "I quit."

It was a big strain on me,
so as a family we discussed

emigrating to Sweden.

Then the mayor said,
"Before you take off,

we'll rehire you here,

as a regular employee,
not as a civil servant."

I like that you're not dogmatic
in your approach.

You tell us things, stories,
in a very even-tempered manner.

People like that.
It makes you credible.

You look like the type
people would invite to a barbecue.

All of that helps.

There.

I'm back in the forest.
It was about time again.

Today I'll to show you
something different.

Just how social trees are.

We have a very old tree stump here.
Here's a nice look at it.

A very old stump that's still alive.
The wood is very hard.

FRIENDSHIPS

Years ago in an old beech preserve
in my area of forest

I came across a path
of odd-looking mossy stones.

Their shape was unusual:
gently curved with hollow areas.

I lifted the moss of one of the stones,
only to discover tree bark.

It wasn't a stone after all,
but old, hard wood.

I had come upon the gnarled remains
of an ancient tree trunk.

Only vestiges
of the outermost edge remained.

The interior had completely rotted
into humus long ago.

But how could the remains
have clung to life for so long?

Living cells must have food
in the form of sugar.

With no leaves, and thus
no photosynthesis, that's impossible.

Clearly, something else was happening
with this stump.

It was being assisted
by neighboring trees.

The nearby beeches were pumping sugar
into it to keep it alive.

Along pathways you can sometimes see
trees linking via their root systems.

That an interlinked system does connect

most trees of the same species
in the same stand

is known thanks to scientists
in the Harz mountains.

Nutrient exchange
and helping neighbors in need

seems to be the rule.

And that led to the conclusion
that natural forests are superorganisms,

that is,
constructs much like ant colonies.

But why are trees such social beings?

Why do they share their food
with their own species?

They know
one tree doesn't make a forest,

and they can only get very old
via community.

Just like us, if we get sick,
others nurse us to health again.

That's the only way everyone
can happily grow very old together.

I think that is
a lovely parallel to us.

LOGGING AND TIMBER EXTRACTION
PASSAGE STRICTLY PROHIBITED

Timber!

Take a good look here.

There's lots of natural regeneration.

- Yes.
- Good, right over here...

Two deciduous trees, look.

How many trees
are there here per hectare?

- In percent?
- There's a simple trick.

Kneel or crouch down.

Get down
or you won't see anything.

I don't want you
to kneel before me.

- From above all you see is moss.
- You can't see anything.

There are seedlings all over.

It's mixed. There's only spruce here.

The new forest
can only be mixed forest,

but we want a deciduous forest.

The next generation will be a mix
The one after that will be deciduous.

In about 500 years.

- So how many do we have?
- Six.

Six? I'll count again.

- One...
- Eight.

Anyone for more?
I'll count. One, two...

What we've found.
...three, four, five.

Six.

We have to be careful
not to count the moss too.

Here are more. Seven, eight.

Nine.
We haven't counted that one yet.

Go through it slowly. Ten.
This one's so easy to overlook.

- It looks like moss.
- Yes.

11.

Did we count that one? Let's say yes,
so we don't count it twice.

That's 11. Are there anymore?

In front of you,
is there anything there?

- You can slip up really quickly.
- Nope.

Let's say there are 11 of them.
I'm sure we overlooked some.

- That makes how many per hectare?
- 110,000.

How many are planted
if you do a very expensive new planting?

- 10,000.
- And here?

Nature planted ten times more than that,
so you're stupid if you plant.

Right. Giddyap!

Giddyap! Giddyap!

Giddyap! Giddyap!

Hey.

Giddyap!

Whoa!

Giddyap!

I can show you this.
It's from yesterday.

That must be so strenuous for the horse.

No, the horse weighs a metric ton.
It can do it. It's a heavy horse.

But if you work with a tree harvester,

then you can work
more effectively, faster.

Yes, faster, but not more effectively.

A harvester may be faster...

Maybe a simple example from Korea.

- Take the next-to-last Samsung phone.
- Yes.

- It was built too fast.
- Yes.

- Yes.
- The battery.

The new one took longer to make,
but it turned out better.

The forest is similar.

- It was developed...
- They were too fast.

The battery got squashed, I believe.

It went on the market too quickly,
and that caused major damage.

It is the same with the harvester.
It's fast, but it does a lot of damage.

I should've said VW developed
its new diesel engines too quickly.

Please translate that,
because that would've been more polite.

HÜMMEL FOREST ACADEMY
THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES

Hello, good morning. Peter Wohlleben.
Nice to have you here.

Even as a small child, when I was six,
I wanted to be a conservationist.

After school I decided on forestry,
because I figured

a forester is a guardian of the forest.

That's what I imagined. I had no clue.
I had no forestry background.

When I finished
I started managing a forest.

I quickly noticed it wasn't for me.

Clear-cutting,
heavy machinery, insecticides...

There's ever more of that.

In forestry they like to talk
about "tending forests."

That's a public relations term.

It's like a butcher saying,
"I tend to animals."

Then I'd say, "No, you don't."

You can't tend to a forest.

Harvesting and producing is legitimate.
So you know, I'm not against using wood.

You're sitting on wooden chairs.
I write books, using paper from trees.

That's okay.

But if you want to do the forest good,

then you have to refrain
from sawing trees down.

Hands in your pockets and watch
is how you get virgin forest.

Not if you start sawing.
You can't tend a forest.

80 percent of Germany's land
was covered with ancient beech forests.

And nature keeps going back to that.

You can't see it anymore.
These trees are a couple.

If you look up there you'll see
they're not interfering with each other.

If you look you'll see
the thick branches go outward.

Is that out of deference
or lack of space?

They do that vis-à-vis other trees.
It's deference.

Some trees intertwine.
There's enough light for that.

We don't call them a couple.
That's far too romantic.

It's a group.

- Yes...
- A group of two.

Exactly. A marriage is a group of two.

A group of two,
and then the group is thinned.

So either both of them or none at all.

That's what we learned in our studies.
It's the unromantic term.

So a little beech tree starts to grow.

It grows slowly.
It's not meant to grow quickly.

In the first 200 to 300 years...

That's how long
a tree's youth lasts here.

If it all goes well, that is.

An international study shows

the slower the youth phase is,
the older the tree gets.

Come over here and look.

See these small knots on the branches.
You can count them.

One for every year.

One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight, etc.

It's 15, 16 years old.

This tree, how old do you think it is?

- 50? 100?
- Over a 100.

- This is ten years right here.
- Oh!

"Oh!" is right. Let's just say
100 certainly isn't exaggerated.

A conservative estimate. 100 years old.

And the big ones?
How old are they?

The big ones are roughly 150, 160.

You may say,
"Hold on! There's a huge difference."

The big trees grew after a clear-cut.
Those trees grow like crazy.

You can compare it with pigs.

In factory farms pigs are ready
for slaughter in six months.

If you take them to an animal shelter...
We work with a foundation that did that.

They keel over after a year, two max.
They grow so fast they're already dead.

The same goes for trees.

They grow extremely fast,
but they don't get old.

They're meant to go to the sawmill.

As far as profit is concerned,
you can certainly say

this tree hasn't done much good
in its 100 years.

But from an ecological standpoint
it's the right approach.

And that's how it goes.

If you want to do something
for the small trees

you have to leave the old ones standing.

So that nothing happens to them
along the way...

the parent tree connects
to the roots of the little tree

and feeds it with liquid sugar.

You can actually say it is suckled.

The best thing to do
is leave these families together.

That's how trees should grow.

What you see over there
is an industrial plantation.

All the same age.
They grew up as orphans.

Fast, fast, fast.

They'll eventually all be cut and sold,
and then it all starts over again.

That's the issue... It's the gamekeeper.
As you know, hunters don't walk.

Let's talk about
wildlife management strategy.

The trees coordinate when they flower.
Beeches and oaks do.

Within their own species, that is.

This year they have lots of blossoms.

They coordinate when they'll bloom
over hundreds of miles.

No one knows how.

LOVE

Love.

Whereas conifers send their seeds
into the world once a year,

deciduous trees have
a totally different strategy.

Before they bloom,
they come to an agreement.

Should they kick things off in spring?

Or would it be better
to hold off for a year or two?

Grown trees prefer to bloom all at once.

That allows the genes
of many different trees to really mix.

But deciduous trees
take another factor into consideration.

Wild boar and deer.

These animals crave
beechnuts and acorns,

which help them put on
a nice layer of fat for the winter.

They're so crazy for these nuts

because they contain
as much as 50 percent oil and starch,

more than any other food available.

Whole areas forests
are often picked clean by autumn,

so, come spring,
hardly any beech and oak trees sprout.

That's why the trees agree in advance.

If they don't bloom every year,

then the boars and deer
cannot count on it.

It helps control birth rates.

The pregnant animals must endure
a long stretch with little food,

so many piglets don't survive.

When all the beeches or oaks
finally do bloom and bear fruit at once

the few herbivores aren't able
to devour everything,

so there are always enough
undiscovered seeds left to sprout.

Can you do that in the forest?

No.

- It scares away the animals.
- No, it doesn't.

So many adults say that to you,
but it's nonsense.

Or I wouldn't have said to do it.

When you scream like that
the animals know,

"Those are kids.
They won't harm us."

They know you don't go around
with guns to shoot animals, right?

- They know that.
- Kids aren't allowed to do that.

Most adults aren't either.

And maybe the ones who do it
don't need to do it either.

The animals don't really get scared
when you're loud.

When you play catch and scream
in the forest, they're relaxed.

There are deer not too far from here.

- But you don't see them. They hide.
- In marshes and stuff?

No, they might be 50 meters away
in the bushes.

They know, "They're loud,
they're not hunters," and stay put.

If you make a racket running,
they run...

- Should we do it again?
- Yeah, sure.

This is private forest here.

Here too.
This is bark beetle infested too.

There.

All of this has to go.

- Here.
- It looks pretty desolate.

Every species is susceptible
to a parasite

that specializes in infesting it.

You hear a lot
about the spruce bark beetle.

That's the reason why we are now...

We only have a few spruce plantations
from our predecessors,

but after such a dry, hot summer,
they're full of spruce beetles.

The conifers aren't from here.
They're from northern boreal forests.

They need a cold, wet climate.
They have a short growing period.

They're planted here, where it's warmer

and there's not enough water in summer,
so they become parched.

They're susceptible to the bark beetle.

The male always bores its way in first.

One gung-ho beetle goes in first
and scopes out the spruce.

Can it defend itself? A healthy spruce
defends itself with a drop of resin.

If it's so dry
that the spruce lacks the water to that,

it bores into it
and sees nothing's coming.

And then he gives a chemical signal
that dinner is served.

So what we do with the infested trees
that will die anyway

is cut them down and debark them,
so the bark beetle can't keep breeding.

We don't want to have bare spots
in the spruce plantations.

New beech trees need shade.

Now,
spruces won't link roots with beeches,

but they do provide shade
and a hint of forest climate.

So we make sure
the infested trees are cut down

and immediately removed from the forest
or debarked.

That ensures a smooth transition
from plantation to natural forest.

Otherwise spruces will grow
on the barren spots.

We don't want that.
Climate change is in progress.

Most conifers in Germany
will disappear in the next 20 years.

You hear, "We need them.
They're the bread-and-butter trees."

By the way, 57 percent of spruce trees
fall victim to storms or bark beetles.

So spruces normally topple over
or are devoured by beetles.

What kind of forestry is that?

That's like a carmaker crushing
every other car that comes off the line.

A practice that ends in disaster
57 percent of the time.

You have to say,
"I'll try a new system."

The bread-and-butter tree
is simply unpalatable.

THE LANGUAGE OF TREES

Whether beech, spruce or oak,

all trees register pain
when critters start nibbling at them.

And they fight back against being eaten.

They send scents through the canopy.

They "scream" for help, activating
an arsenal of chemical defenses.

When a caterpillar
takes a hearty bite of a leaf

the tissue around the bite changes.

The tissue sends out electrical signals,

much as human tissue does
when it has been injured.

However, the signal is not transmitted
in a matter of milliseconds,

it travels
at only a centimeter a minute.

Accordingly, it takes another hour

for the compounds
to reach the leaves

and spoil the pests' meal.

Trees live in the slow lane.
It seems they stay there even in danger.

This slow tempo does not mean

the individual parts function
in isolation from one another.

If the roots are experiencing trouble,
that info is sent throughout the tree,

which can trigger

the leaves to release scent compounds.

Not just any,

but compounds tailored
to the task at hand.

Trees can identify some insects

and know just what species
they are up against.

Trees aren't some organic robots
or timber producing machines.

If we look more closely
we discover they are sentient beings

that pursue their own objectives.

TREE OR NOT TREE?

"What exactly is a tree?

It is defined as 'a woody plant
with a trunk from which branches grow'."

So the main shoot must be dominant
and grow steadily upward,

or the plant is a shrub

with many branches
originating from one rootstock.

It gets more complicated
when a new trunk grows from a stump.

That is common in many forests.

Centuries ago charcoal burners
cut deciduous trees to stumps

to make charcoal.

Are these trunks now young trees,
or are they actually 1,000 years old?

This is a question scientists asked

who are researching ancient spruce
in Sweden's Dalarna province.

The oldest spruce has grown
a carpet of flat, scrubby brush

that surrounds its single small trunk.

It all belongs to one tree.

The tree's roots were analyzed
using the C14 dating method.

It revealed

the tree is an absolutely unbelievable
9,550 years old.

Although individual shoots were younger,

those from recent centuries
were not deemed stand-alone trees

but part of the larger whole.

The root ensured
the survival of the organism,

withstood major climatic changes

and has sprouted trunks
time and time again.

The root has stored up
millennia of experiences

and that experience
has allowed it to survive to this day.

Good morning.

Today I'm visiting Old Tjikko,
the world's oldest tree.

It is nearly 10,000 years old.

And that humbles me.

I am humbled because of
the extreme longevity of nature,

and because trees withstand so much.

This little spruce has endured
many phases of climate change.

It has experienced so much.

The only thing it cannot withstand
is a chainsaw.

A SENSE OF TIME

...despite severe changes in climate...

Old Tjikko had survived to this day.

Morning.

Yes.

Morning.

Look. Do you want something?

Come here.

Come here. Come here.

Look here. Yes.

Wait.

Oh, it's hard.

Right, now come here. Come on.

That's good.

In these times of dramatic
environmental upheaval,

our yearning for undisturbed,
intact nature is increasing.

But no forest in Germany
is undisturbed.

You can just grab the earth
from the floor of an ancient forest.

You'd break your fingernails
in the floor of a managed forest.

Soil from a normal forest is crumbly
and you see a mass of creatures in it.

Then a harvester, with a nice name
like "Hannibal" or "King Tiger,"

drives over the loose earth
and packs it tight two meters deep.

The pressure exerted on the ground
is what does the damage.

A "pressure bulb" forms under the tire.

So the earth is compressed
when the vehicle goes over it.

The size of the pressure bulb
depends on tire width.

The wider, the deeper the bulb.

It goes down especially deep
when you have wide tires.

You might be familiar
with sitting outside a café in a city

and when a truck or a bus drives by
your cup rattles.

The vibration shakes it
so it compacts down deep.

The pressure the tire exerts
per square centimeter can be low,

it still damages the soil way down deep.

What geologists say about soil
regeneration at depths below 20 cm means

most compacted soil
will recover after the next ice age.

When a harvester rolls over soil

its capacity to store water
decreases up to 95 percent.

That means instead of 25 cubic meters

the soil only stores
two to three cubic meters.

Now we come back
to what happens in September.

Why does that happen?
The trees die of thirst.

OFF THE CHAIN

Originally most of the land in Europe
was covered in primordial forests

in which beech trees predominated.

Primordial forests
fell to axes centuries ago,

to make way for our ancestors' plows.

At the latest in the Middle Ages,
the "age of wood,"

the rest of the forests
were in for it too.

It wasn't until 1800 that ideas changed
and the forests returned.

Forests?

They were and still are plantations,

groups of even-aged trees
all of one species

and only vaguely reminiscent of nature.

Spruces and pines
native to high mountains

were brought down to lower climes.

They were planted in orderly rows
and clear-cut 100 years later.

So many generations have grown used to
these dismal monocultures

that we don't know
what a real forest looks like.

BIAŁOWIEŻA NATIONAL PARK

Ideas of what ancient European forest
looks like are often off the mark.

It is frequently assumed
scrubland would take over

creating
an impenetrable mess of thickets.

But natural reserves left untouched
by human hands for over 100 years

prove the opposite.

Virgin forests
are very easy to walk through.

There are merely some thick,
dead tree trunks on the ground.

There are very few noticeable changes
within a human lifetime.

Reserves where cultivated forests
are left to return to a virgin state

slow nature down.

Yeah.

Nature? Why do we need nature?

- Yes, that's a...
- We're sitting around here.

- Maybe we don't need it.
- Yes, that's a big misunderstanding.

Nature conservancy
isn't protecting nature.

We're protecting ourselves.

Because we can't destroy nature.

It will always recover on its own.

- It may take...
- It defends itself?

Well, it can restore itself.

It may take 1,000 or even 10,000 years.

That's no time at all for nature.

But it's too long for us.

Look at Chernobyl.

The forest will come back.

It would just be nice
if we're still here.

- If we could see that happen.
- Yes.

- Do you want to come...
- Yes.

Do you always go around
carrying a pine cone along with you?

Yes, that was...
I don't know if he's here.

A little boy at the entrance
gave it to me.

Is he still here?

He drew me a wonderful picture too.

And that really warmed my heart.

Up until now I've walked around
without carrying a pine cone with me.

But that changed as of today.

Well done. Thank you.

Why is it so much harder for us
to understand plants than animals?

It is due to evolutionary history,

which split us off
from vegetation very early on.

All our senses developed differently,
so that we have to

use our imaginations
to get even the slightest idea

what is going on inside trees.

CAN YOU HEAR THE TREES TALKING?

Trees are extremely slow.

That is why they seem to be
immobile beings,

only slightly more mobile than rocks.

Their entire life spans
are at least five times as long as ours.

Active movements,

such as growing shoots
or the unfolding of leaves,

take weeks and months.

Leaves dropping in fall
and unfolding in spring

are completely normal phenomena
in many latitudes.

But, if you look carefully,
it is a miraculous event,

because trees need something very
important for this: a sense of time.

How do they know that winter is coming

or that rising temperatures
aren't merely a brief interlude

but an announcement of spring's arrival?

When a tree loses its leaves
is indeed a question of character.

A QUESTION OF CHARACTER

On the road between my village, Hümmel,

and the next settlement
stand three oaks.

They grow unusually close together.

Mere inches separate
the 100-year-old trunks.

That makes them
ideal subjects for me to study

because they all share
identical environmental conditions.

If the oaks behave differently,

it must be
due to their innate characteristics.

And they do indeed behave differently.

The oak on the left already turns color

while the other two trees
remain completely green.

It takes a week or two

for the other two
to enter into dormancy as well.

But, if conditions are identical,

what accounts for the differences
in their behavior?

There are often
unseasonably warm days in the fall,

and this creates a dilemma for the oaks.

Should they use these mild days
to photosynthesize

and to stash away a few extra calories?

Or should they play it safe
and shed their leaves

in case there's a sudden frost
that forces them into dormancy?

Clearly, each of the trees
decides differently.

Two of the oaks are a bit more gutsy,
and the third is a bit more anxious,

or, to put it more positively,
more sensible.

Good morning.

It's still February, but the first trees
are awakening from dormancy.

And that's clear to see on this tree,
this pussy willow.

The catkins, the flower clusters,
are already coming out.

The question is: how do they do that?

Because sprouting such buds requires
water pressure within the tree.

Common theory says it is transpiration.

Water evaporates from the leaves,

causing a vacuum in the trunk
which then sucks in water.

But this tree does not have a single
green leaf on it,

yet it's at full pressure.

How does it do that?

I believe that the tree has
an active pumping mechanism.

But that has yet to be discovered.

Frantisek Baluska from the Institute
for Cellular and Molecular Botany

at the University of Bonn believes,

with colleagues, that the root apex
of a tree is a brain-like organ.

As the root probes into the earth
it can perceive stimuli.

The researchers measure waves,
which the tree processes

and which cause it
to alter its behavior.

Yes, then we published a paper showing

that these 200 Hz, the sound waves,

induce growth
from the root to the source.

That means they grow towards
the source of the 200 Hz waves.

200 Hz is more or less the noise
flowing water makes.

- That's useful for the root.
- Of course.

So do the roots think
there's water there,

or do they follow the lead
of other roots?

No, if you do it with one root
it will do the same thing.

So it is definitely sensing the 200 Hz.

And they're growing right towards
the flow of water.

Would you call that hearing?
They have no ears.

- They don't have ears.
- Of course not.

No, they don't, but the entire plant
practically works like a huge ear.

On the level of metaphors,

people often ask me this,
as a kind of trick question.

"Why do you humanize everything?"

For example, if I say,

"Tree roots can 'hear' sound waves."

FOREST GUIDE TRAINING

First I say "perceive,"

then I say, "It's similar to hearing."

I don't think
you can humanize nature too much.

Am I supposed to say it
in "tree language"?

I can't. I can't speak it
and don't understand it.

I don't know how to do that.

We inherently speak metaphorically.

I think the problem is also
that people like to ridicule it.

It's basically portrayed as an affront
that one even gets the idea

to compare a tree

to a person.

That really is disparaging in its way.
Sometimes that momentarily cripples you.

None of us are scientists.
They have an honor code.

They don't express things emotionally.
That's legitimate.

Maybe in 100 years it'll change,
but that's how it's done now.

I myself am not a scientist.
Are any of you?

You are. And what field are you in?

- Landscape ecology.
- Right.

I'm sure you speak differently
to colleagues than to laypeople.

Laypeople don't understand it.
That's the aim of my tours and books.

I'd like laypeople to understand it.

Have we already spoken about
Frantisek Baluska?

He's investigating
how plants experience pain.

He says very clearly,
"Yes, they feel pain."

And they reflect upon it.

They produce pain inhibiting substances.

They don't just react to a stimulus,
like an injury.

In certain situations
they produce painkillers.

That only makes sense
if they can reflect on pain.

But that is an affront to people,
and that's not scientific anymore.

Protesting to that
is being emotional, not scientific.

And you are just the messengers.

I am too.
I didn't do the studies either.

I just translate them
so that everyone knows:

"Oh, trees can feel pain."

And people in forestry don't attack
the University of Bonn, they attack me.

It's the messenger who gets killed.
That's how it was in antiquity too.

It's not the message that's the problem,

but rather the messenger who is.

STREET KIDS

Young trees are handled
in nurseries for years

before being moved
to their final locations.

The diameter of the root ball,

which in nature is roughly six meters
for a three-meter tree,

is trimmed down to about 50 centimeters.

This doesn't keep the tree healthy,
it just makes it easier to handle.

The brain-like structures and root tips
are cut off during root ball pruning.

Ouch!

As if this intervention ruins
the tree's sense of direction,

it stops growing roots downwards
and forms a flat plate of roots.

This severely restricts
its ability to find water and nutrients.

City trees are the forest's street kids.

They get a shock
upon trying to establish roots.

The street hinders their growth,

as do pipes under sidewalks
and earth compacted during construction.

They have to put up with more than that.

The urban microclimate is marked
by heat storing asphalt and concrete.

That makes for extremely dry air

loaded with exhaust pollution.

Many of the companions

that ensure the trees' well-being
in the forest are missing.

The massive stress and pollution

mean that most of them
are unable to grow old.

I thought, "You only have..."

I thought, "23 years till I retire.

Will I manage to get this or that
part of the forest into that state?"

In retrospect,
I have to say that was just crazy.

- Given the pace of the forest.
- Yes.

The pace the forest moves at
is one thing,

but the establishment
changes even slower than a forest

and is far more resistant.

You changed the state of things,
exactly as you wanted to.

And you know you're doing that
because the empire is striking back.

- That's right.
- You're really part of a big movement.

So you're part of that big movement,

someone who uses a successful book,
an idea and you yourself as a new tool.

The others have to fight that.

- Before it keeps growing.
- Yes.

I have something I ask myself
to deal with my own stress.

I always say that I have to revert
to a vegetative nervous system.

Where you lay somewhere
and inhale and exhale without thinking.

Or you go to the sauna,
and after doing the hot and then cold

you notice the thumping,
you notice your body.

I do that in the tub.
I'm grateful when hotels have bathtubs.

I lay there for 30 minutes,
sleep for five, and just relax.

- I can't drown because I'm so tall.
- True.

No danger.

I just sleep for five minutes.
I can do it before talk shows too.

I can get so relaxed and chill out,
so it is exactly that.

- How long are you here until today?
- Until 5:00 p.m.

Then you'll need
to take a shower, right?

I'll touch you, if that's all right.

We can learn social behavior from them.

A tree knows, "I'm not a forest.
I won't manage alone."

By working together trees achieve
far more and are able to get very old.

In today's political landscape
nationalism and egotism are on the rise.

We can all see
that doesn't really do anyone any good.

Trees wouldn't do that.
They wouldn't elect Trump.

UNITED WE STAND,
DEVIDED WE FALL

Trees are very social beings
and help each other out.

But that isn't quite enough
for survival in the forest ecosystem.

That's why trees paired up with fungi
millions of years ago.

Fungi are peculiar things.

They don't fit our classification
of living beings into animals or plants

Their cell walls are made of chitin,

which makes them more like insects.

It is a substance never found in plants.

Moreover, they cannot photosynthesize,

but rely on organic connections
with other living beings

that they can feed on.

Over decades,
a fungus's underground cottony web

mycelium, keeps expanding.

The thin threads permeate the earth
and create a very densely woven matt.

A teaspoon of forest soil contains
miles of these threads, or hyphae.

This fungal network
transmits signals from tree to tree,

helping them exchange information

about insects, droughts
and other dangers.

Fungi work like fiber optic cables
for the internet.

Even scientists
now talk of a "Wood Wide Web"

that traverses our forests.

Such a network of connections
has its price.

As we know, these organisms
depend on other species for food,

so they demand payment in sugar
and other carbohydrates,

which their partner tree must deliver.

They demand up to a third of the food
a tree produces for their services.

In exchange for the rich sugary reward,
fungi provide a few free benefits,

such as filtering out heavy metals.

The sequestered pollutants turn up
each fall in the pretty fruiting bodies,

the porcini and bolete mushrooms,
we take home with us.

To the right, towards the farm track,

and then continue on

along the old federal highway
towards the forest.

Straight ahead. Straight ahead.

ARMIN LASCHET
THE LIGNITE JUNKIE

Hambach Forest stays!
Hambach Forest stays!

- Hambach...
- ... stays!

- Hambach...
- ... stays!

- Hambach, Hambach, Hambach...
- ... stays, stays, stays!

Each and every one of you is special,

but a few people need to be singled out.

Someone very important
is about to speak.

If Peter is anywhere nearby
he should head this way.

Not every Peter.
I think he knows who I mean.

Probably Germany's most famous forester.

I welcome Peter Wohlleben.
It's great that you came.

I asked him and it was clear to him
that he'd say something.

Here's the mic.
Please hold it close to your mouth.

This is an unfamiliar situation for me.
I usually see only trees.

I'll just imagine you're Ents,
like in the Lord of the Rings.

The tree shepherds.
I've already seen one. There he is!

I've obviously been following the debate
in the news and newspapers.

I've noticed it's always about rights.

"We have the right,
and we have to assert it."

You have to say, "Dear Mrs. Merkel,
what went on in Fukushima?"

After the disaster there
a nuclear power producer

suddenly lost its rights.

Climate change
is just as dangerous as Fukushima.

It's time to prioritize a greater right,
the right of the people,

over individual contracts
with a very profit-minded company.

But we really have to thank the people

who've been in the forest
trying to protect trees for three weeks.

FIRST THE FOREST DIES, THEN US!
AND YOUR KIDS TOO

I've been talking
to forestry officials for 20 years now.

That really destroys you,

because they don't want
to change things.

In the long run, of course.
But not right now.

It's our country and democracy is this,

and not just ticking a box
every four years.

We are here! We are loud!

Because they want to cut Hambach down!

When I negotiate with the people
from the forest authority...

For about a year now
I've been telling them we're in contact.

And I've told them
that you're taking on the position

as a volunteer advisor.

That you're doing that for our tribe.

And I always mention to them
that it's about time they read the book.

It's funny, because everyone I talk to
who isn't in forestry

tells me they know the book.

And if you talk to forestry officials
or people in forest management

it's almost like it's the "dirty book."

"Yes, I've heard of it, but..."

Everyone knows it, everyone's read it,
but none of them admit it.

And you really shouldn't underestimate

the position that you have.

Let's see to it
that we make good use of it.

I have the flight times here.

If everything goes well,
we'll arrive in Vancouver at 2:45 p.m.

And then, I don't even know...

We're ignorant about this...

Then we have to go
from there to Vancouver Island.

That's right. Do we take a ferry
or is it a domestic flight?

Nice. I really like this.

I'm really happy about this.

You can see
how big of a cut that would be.

That's a huge hole.

- This area.
- That's right.

IN THE REALM OF DARKNESS

The dead remains of a tree
are vital to a forest's life cycle.

For centuries it took in nutrients
and stored them in its wood and bark,

making it a precious treasure
for its children.

However, they cannot readily access
these delicacies.

They need the help of other organisms.

As soon as the broken trunk
hits the earth

a relay race to the banquet begins
for thousands of fungi and insects.

Each is specialized
in different stages of decay

and in specific parts of the tree.

The wide variety of animal life
often plays out in a microcosm.

There are more life forms
in a handful of forest soil

than there are people on the planet.

These creatures
are a kind of terrestrial plankton.

They are the first link
in the food chain

and act as a huge recycling factory.

All of these creatures
impact the soil,

transform it and enrich it,
making it very valuable to the trees.

Take, for example, beetle mites,

of which there are
over 1,000 known species in Europe.

They are less than a millimeter long

and look like spiders
with inadvisably short legs.

The leaves and bits of bark off trees
would pile up meters deep

if it weren't for
a hungry army of microscopic creatures.

Whether it's rotting wood
or dead snails,

everything has a beetle mite
adapted to consume it.

They appear
everywhere birth and decay intersect,

and, thus, must be considered
essential components of the ecosystem.

In order for regeneration
to take place at all,

nature reserves of pristine forests

free from any human interference
are needed.

In places like these
the diverse soil life can survive

and they can act as nuclei
for recovery in surrounding areas.

If we want to use forests in the battle
against climate change,

we have to let them grow old.

I'm utterly surprised

that it didn't rise up into the crowns,
at least for the most part.

Given the heat,
and the wind here must've been crazy.

Yes, that's fascinating to observe.

The fire came from the valley over there
and advanced up this way

and it got even more intense.

The stands up there
are where we had the crown fires.

Here the needles
were actually still on the trees

and didn't start raining down
until a few weeks later.

It really is
a magnificent starting point

to get some structural diversity
in here that we didn't have.

If they don't clear this away,
plow it up and grade it,

but leave the trees as they are.

Although we are considering
knocking some over

to see if the rotting wood

can help retain moisture faster.

As far as the makeup,
a layer of ash like this...

That's interesting,

because it actually sealed off the soil
for quite a long time.

There's quite a bit of moisture
in this right here.

Underneath it's dry.
This is different.

- It's better there.
- The sand is moist.

But last year precipitation
didn't permeate this at all.

But now we actually do have
favorable conditions here

to start things off again.

- Why would you plow this?
- Yes.

Any seed that falls here
won't have a hard time growing.

That's right. And it will surely happen
in the right order.

The pioneer species will arrive first.

Morning. I'm where the big forest fire
was in Treuenbrietzen.

600 hectares of forest
burned here last year.

Six square kilometers burned down.

It was a plantation fire,
so a pine wasteland burned down.

And what did they do with it?

Well, the city at least

left whole sections of its half scorched
forest standing to retain biomass.

And the bordering private forest,

with the state's support
and on the state's advice,

chopped down the remaining trees,

plowed everything, drove over it
and destroyed the soil.

And what did they plant then?
Three guesses...

Pine trees! It went so well before,
let's do it again.

I believe these little trees
will be dried up in 20 years.

Like I said, on state foresters' advice
and with ministry support.

Congratulations, Brandenburg!

Commander of the world.

It certainly is nice to see rotting wood
in various stages of decay.

April was dry, but that's damp.

And you can see, you can squeeze
drops of water out of it.

And we could do the same last year
with the sample we took in August.

In the rotting wood.
You see what it contributes.

As far as how a virgin forest
in Germany would look,

this would be the closest thing.

Yes.

The structural abundance,
with old trees

and the trees that are dying slowly.

They don't just die,
fall over and that's it.

That's prolonged over decades.

He refuses to abdicate.
His crown has broken off, but...

- This is one of my favorite trees.
- Yes.

Isn't it great? That splintered off.
Now it's becoming a trunk again.

Whoa!

Good morning. Today,
something nice from the hallowed halls.

Here is a tree.

It broke off on top
and formed a second crown.

Another crown.
But the tree wasn't thin like this.

In reality it was a very thick tree
that broke off.

And here it is.

It really is a nice, thick trunk.

It left this splintered-off part.

You can see it here on the other side.
It broke off here.

You can see
these bulges and ledges forming on it.

It may close up on this side

and then go on to form a new tree.

A thinner tree, but it's not done.
That's how tough beeches are.

Even if this one looks all rotten
and decayed and is broken off,

this tree is still partially standing,
and is forging on.

This is my favorite secondary crown.

It is a symbol of resilience and of...

the possibility
such a system affords trees

to keep starting over again and again.

When I started my career as a forester

I knew as much
about the hidden life of trees

as a butcher knew
about animals' feelings.

I suddenly discovered
a myriad of wonders.

No Limits Media 2020
Subtitles: N. Fritz et al.