Why call me a ‘Tree Hugger’?

This article was inspired by Environmentalist Chris P. Nwachukwu when he gave the true meaning of a ‘tree hugger’. I was shocked and saddened when I read this story.

Over the years I have been called a ‘tree hugger’ and I must admit I would laugh it off thinking that the individual just felt intimidated by me, being in their building trying to reduce energy and finding fault. ?I always say to people I’m here to support them and this is not an audit but an assessment. One of my mentoring processes is to always build like and trust with people. Ultimately, it is people that will make the difference in the world, not technology.

The problem we have is that the minority of people in the world always want to push back making the concept of energy management an issue for them as an individual and a blame culture develops. I have been in many a meeting when the green team have started arguing and finger pointing and the chairperson then gets labelled a ‘tree hugger’. I prefer to be called an ‘Eco Warrior’ but then why not as the image created around tree hugging is nowhere as exciting as being a warrior. When I read Chris’s article it made me think that if we were to embrace these stories and sayings and create a different culture around this, our process of saving the planet may be a far better culture. Instead of them and us it becomes ‘Us’.

We as human beings must always label things and we are seeing this within every aspect of life and culture. We really do not need to though and it is not helping. There is a role to be played by everyone and by challenging the process with accusation and blatant labelling, it just makes the situation worse.

Chris’s article made me realise that there were hundreds of men and women who have given their lives for our planet and they would ‘cling’ to trees and then wait to be slaughtered by foresters. This made me feel honoured to be called a tree hugger and my clinging to the tree is me creating content to share with organisations and individuals who want to learn more about energy management. Here is an extract of what Chris wrote:

The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters. But their action led to a royal decree prohibiting the cutting of trees in any Bishnoi village. And now those villages are virtual wooded oasis amidst an otherwise desert landscape.

Not only that, the Bishnois inspired the Chipko movement (chipko means “to cling” in Hindi) that started in the 1970s, when a group of peasant women in the Himalayan hills of northern India threw their arms around trees designated to be cut down. Within a few years, this tactic, also known as tree satyagraha, had spread across India, ultimately forcing reforms in forestry and a moratorium on tree felling in Himalayan regions.

We need to protect this planet whether it be by reducing energy consumption, delivering more renewable clean energy or saving or planting more trees. I have planted over a hundred trees in Kenya and as a man of 59, I may never sit in the shade of these trees in my lifetime but maybe others will. I have just planted seven mango trees in Thailand and I dream of eating the fruits from them.

One day when someone calls me a ‘tree hugger’ I will smile and then refer them to this story where 363 people gave their lives to save this planet.

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