There is a power that moves
in such submission through the world:
groping in roots, and growing thick in trunks,
and in treetops, like a rising of the dead.”

—Rainer Maria Rilke

Under a tree was the great Saga Buddha born
Under a tree, he attained enlightenment
The Buddha taught monks
To care for tender trees’
It is trees that bring rain
Trees that hold the essence of the soil

—His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“We must pass on the earth that we have been given to the generations that will succeed us, tilling and tending as humankind was told to ‘till and tend’ in the Garden of Eden. Now is a pivotal moment where we can take steps to ensure that our children and grandchildren inherit a habitable earth, free from the devastation of climate destruction.”

—Rabbi Jonah Pesner

At the center of the sacred hoop
You have said that I should make the tree to bloom.
With tears running, O Great Spirit, my Grandfather…
Here I stand, and the tree is withered…
Nourish it then
That it may leaf and bloom
And fill with singing birds!

-Black Elk, Oglala Sioux

“Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a  sincere love for our fellow human beings…A true ecological approach must hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

—Pope Francis