Let the Valentine’s Day countdown begin! (In case you haven’t been keeping tabs.)
As quarantine restrictions have been eased with the projected drop of COVID-19 cases, the good news is that that VDay date you’ve been planning might finally happen IRL. Now, if your next problem is who to go out with, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) can hook you up with someone—er, something.
Mutual benefits of tree hugging
If your love language is touch and you identify as a halaman, the environmental bureau’s upcoming weeklong event from Feb. 14 to 18 is for you: tree hugging. Contrary to what your green mind thinks, this is not some sort of fetish. In fact, it is thoroughly wholesome and has mutual benefits for you and your plant life partner of choice.
For context though, DENR finds tree hugging a suitable alternative to vandalizing tree trunks with election paraphernalia—which, did you know is illegal?
So yes, go on and hug a tree—although god knows if they consent to it. Much like how “forest bathing” or the practice of basking in the sights, smells, and sounds of a natural setting can improve physiological and psychological health, physical contact with its plant inhabitants also proves to be beneficial. Just ask the British man who hugged a total of 350 trees last year. And it’s not just good for you.
David Knott, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh curator who hugged 350 trees, did it to raise money to save the giant redwood trees at Benmore Botanic Garden.
Tree hugging has its roots (pun intended) in activism. In India in the 1970s, for example, the Chipko Movement began. The nonviolent social and ecological movement by rural villagers, particularly women and children who rely heavily on the forest, resisted government-backed logging by literally embracing the trees so loggers couldn’t go anywhere near them.
Tree hugging as a sport?
Tree hugging can also be a competitive sport, as suggested by the existence of the Tree Hugging World Championships. This year, it will be held on Aug. 20 in Levi, Lapland, Finland. Anyone anywhere in the world can join virtually by taking a photo of themselves hugging a tree, sending it along with its coordinates, and a short paragraph describing why you love this tree or tree hugging in general. The prize? An in-person invitation to the invite-only tree hugging competition in Finland the following year along with train trips for two, including a sleeping cabin, Helsinki-Rovaniemi-Helsinki, a one-week stay for two in Levi, and a private cocooning trip for two.
Your tree hugging experience, may it be personal or rooted in something deeper, can still be a worthwhile experience. And if you don’t know how to start, here’s a tip from Knott:
“My tree hugging technique is based on a simple principle: making maximum contact. This means wrapping my arms as far round as they’ll go (sometimes a stern stretch for a man my age), and then leaning into the tree.”