Page 19 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2016Q2

The Fine Ethics

of Tree

Collecting

Text and photos by Andrew Smith, USA

Above; A panorama featuring thics is where the individual collides with the Mindful, informed and aware
a juniper overlooking a world. So wear your helmet. Collecting a tree from nature takes some effort.
canyon in Wyoming.
I like to think that I can live in such a way You’ll have to get your hands dirty and your muscles
as to minimize the harm I do to other living tired. You’ll have to become familiar with your local
Ethings while still enjoying myself in a non- landscape and the tree species that grow there. You’ll
saintly manner. That would be an ethical life in my have to decide which ones have potential for bonsai
book. But it turns out this is easier to wish for than and which ones don’t. You’ll have to become aware of
to do. the seasons and how they relate to tree growth and
The truth is, there is no way to be in this world of when is the proper time to dig You’ll have to learn
ours without causing harm to other living things. about the different needs of each species, and just what
Maybe the best we can do is to just try and make our- is required to grow each one. And you’ll have to find
selves aware of the full consequences of our actions so places where it’s legal and proper to collect. And fi-
we can decide if we are really acting as we wish. nally, after all that, if you’re successful, you’ll have to
I love being out in the cold, windy mountains and be there for your tree; day after day, year after year after
searching for ancient pines, dwarfed and contorted year, to water, feed and care for it.
by decades of growing in some tiny rock crevice on All of these things will increase your awareness of
a lonely crag. Such trees embody the feeling of a wild the natural world we are part of. And so, I think, they
place, rude, but unspoiled with rules and expectations. will make you a better citizen of the Earth. I think
If I can, I will collect this old pine and take it home to if everyone did bonsai, the world would be a better
train as a bonsai. And if you can, I’d encourage you to place. Really.
do the same. I think it’s a good thing. But, before you grab your shovel, consider the pas-
Bonsai is an art that idealizes the beauty of nature. senger pigeon, the American bison, the woolly mam-
But you can’t really know what you’re trying to idealize moth and the shimpaku junipers in the mountains of
unless you get out into it. Going out and collecting a Japan. The passenger pigeon went extinct from over-
tree is a perfect way to do that. hunting by humans, the woolly mammoth probably

April/May/June 2016 | BCI | 17