The Forest is the Sea’s Lover” Large chunks of human and more-than-human communities dodge a geological bullet this week, as tsunami threats after an historic earthquake in the Pacific largely failed to materialize. But it certainly got our community thinking. From Jim Laurie’s Symbiosis Team, Tim Jones (Gladney Farm, Hokkaido, Japan) thought of Shigeatsu Hatakeyama. Hatakeyama-san, whom Jones met in 2011, was a fisherman and essayist who championed the connections between living systems. He began planting trees at the age of 45. He understood that the nutrients sustaining oysters in the sea are carried by rivers—so to nurture the sea, one must first enrich the forests at its source.* “For a fisherman to plant trees in the mountains is also to plant trees in people’s hearts.” *The Asahi Shimbun
Posted: August 16, 2025