Vines

My Vine project focused on the relationship we have with trees. I think I’ve been thinking about trees recently because a) in Minnesota, I haven’t seen a live one for half a year and b) this photo that surfaced on my twitter feed a few months ago.

My immediate reaction was a laugh, until I realized the gravity of this truth. We read articles about the destruction of the rainforests over our breakfast as if it’s happening on a different planet. In this age we are more connected than ever to the rest of the world by technology such as television, Facetime, and a variety of hosts that allow us to access activity in almost any major city in the world within a few minutes. A simple search on twitter of #Rio will tell me exactly what’s going on in the social, economical, and political spheres thousands of miles away. But yet we distance ourselves more than ever from perhaps the most pressing issue – our planet. We murder over borders we have drawn, and forget that all those borders live in the same shared home. The Lorax doesn’t look so much like a book of fiction.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to use notebooks or fish off of docks. It just seems that trees are yet another example of a species we have colonized and manipulated for our own gain. Forests are sacrificed to build even larger cities, cities that will likely populate and pollute our air even more. And yet for me to realize that, it had to be compared to something as ridiculous as WiFi.

Our needs have evolved, apparently. We’re too good for trees now. Let the rainforests suffer, as long as I can read about it on my phone without using up cellular data.

The last vine with my cat is related because the feline family finds its home in trees and jungles. And my cat’s natural habit (a declawed cat that couldn’t even scale a tree) is planted firmly next to – you guessed it – a computer. With a Wifi signal. He probably doesn’t even realize what he’s missing by being domesticated, but the image of seeing him sitting there was harsh for some reason. It’s okay for technology to advance but at what cost?