Session 8: Discover - Nalini Nadkarni

Studying forests... from above. Canopies have more diversity than below. Epiphytes don't set their roots in the ground, they set them above. Under they die and decompose they leave a soil of a sort, moss and connections of canopy roots, not epiphyte roots but the trees they are no connecting. Moss recolonization is VERY slow. If moss is damaged it takes decades to recover, since if the top is lost, it still has to grow again from the bottom.

The canopy does: foster biodiversity and help keep the ecosystem stable. We are so removed from trees how do we reconnect? Today she's unveiling the International Canopy Network evergreen.edu/ican to connect the ivory tower and the tree tops. They've even made Tree Top Barbie. They've connected with artists, musicians, dancers (Capacitor created "Biome" for her). What can we do about florists harvesting unsustainable mosses for floral arrangements? Learn to grow it ourselves, using the Green Prison Reform Project which also changes the environment of prison inmates to one of help and growth.


There are trees in our hearts. Trees are not a compartment of our lives. We can connect, from above and below to each other and to nature.

And the audience jumped to their feet, standing together, clapping from above. And Chris Anderson confessed that he is, in a completely appropriate way, that he's in love with her.