Tag Archives: Nature

Robert Wolff’s “Original Wisdom”

Goodreads rating 4.37. Wolff describes his experiences in rural Malaysia and in the jungle among the Sng’oi, where he learns (rather than being taught) new forms of awareness and knowledge.

I saw clearly—perhaps for the first time—that most people, even scientists, can see the world only from one point of view: their own. [p. 146]

Malay culture values halus—soft, gentle, polite—and despises kasar.

Three Trillion Trees

There are about 3 trillion trees on Earth, or roughly 400 per capita, according to estimates published in Science. Nearly half of the trees stand in tropical or subtropical forests. In a typical year, 15 billion trees are cut down. At the start of human civilization, the number of trees was approximately twice as high as today.