My perspective is the century | Charles-Etienne DUPONT | TEDxClermont

Charles-Etienne is forest lover. He is particularly fond of the forests of Auvergne. To him, even the small actions of our daily lives have a meaning for the centuries to come. Managing a forest is to imagine the impact of today's actions in a very long term, a term greater than our individual span of life.

Trained in Aurillac in Auvergne (France), Charles-Etienne is a licenced professional forest manager. He provides valuable advices about long-term management to forest owners, and coordinates the work within each forest under his responsibility such as the cutting and sale of wood, administrative procedures, and reforestation.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Let me introduce to you the emperor,

45 meters high
and a circumference of 4 meters.

Quite impressive, isn't it?

It is 250 years old.

This means that this pine tree was born
before the French Revolution.

It was 35 years old when Beethoven
composed the ''Ode to Joy,''

100 years old during
the Universal Exhibition in Paris,

200 years old

when the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights was written.

It overlooks the 250 acre
of forest that I manage.

Think for a moment ...

Since its seed sprouted, it has
experienced one thousand seasons,

250 times the spring mildness,

then the heat and the summer drought.

It has seen its friends, the beech trees,
lose their leaves 250 times,

as well as the winter's harshness,
the wind, the cold, the snow.

In fact, in my work as forest manager,

my relationship with time is a bit
different than the majority of you.

When I cut a 200-year-old tree

I imagine the forest aisle,
the clearing that it will create,

and the seeds that will then sprout,
grow, evolve, and become trees.

I visualize my action

at the level of a tree
and the forest area,

but above all, I am led
to exercise my foresight.

Once they become trees, what makes
those seeds form the future forest ?

I anticipate my interventions
in a management plan,

or a "life plan" if you prefer,

for one year, five years, thirty years ...

a hundred years.

My perspective is the century.

What does this teach me?

Well, it is first humility,
intellectual honesty.

I don't cheat with time.

I can't pull the tree
to make it grow faster.

I have to work with an exiting forest

that Nature and foresters
have shaped centuries before I came.

My task is to continue this work
for the centuries to come

while providing people
with the wood they need.

And when I make choices, my responsibility
is to respect the history of each forest.

What will be useful to it?

What could galvanize
its collective strength?

Because a forest is primarily a society.

It's a tree and another tree
and another tree,

just like drops of water
add up to make streams, rivers,

and oceans.

Each tree gives what it can
and takes what it needs,

no more no less.

The trees' stillness makes us believe
that they are inactive,

but they are permanently active.

They extend their leaves,
their branches, their crowns

towards the light at all times.

They capture the smallest photon,
the smallest drop of water

in order to develop, to strengthen
their roots and their trunk.

Each tree is beneficial in its own way.

One brings shade,

another a shield from the wind.

This one gives its leaves
to produce humus.

That one spreads its roots
to capture water deep below.

All of them produce oxygen,

clean up the air,

purify the water, fix the ground,
regulate the climate,

produce fruits and wood,

and participate in the balance
of the forest and the world.

Each one gives what it can,
but one tree does not constitute a forest.

It is part of the stand.

It brings its will, its vital impulse.

In my daily work,

I have noticed that the
forest's strength is in symbiosis,

an intimate and lasting association
between individual trees,

a community of interest if you prefer.

I could see how trees work in synergy.

Young beeches grow
under the cover of old pines,

and young pines grow
under the cover of old beeches.

However, there are also competitive
relationships and rivalry at an early age

to find a place as a dominant
or as a dominated in adulthood

among the stand.

Then these relationships slowly become
an interaction and cooperation phenomena.

At that point, the dominants
protect the dominated,

and the dominated ensure
the stand's stability against the wind.

Personaly, I have noticed that the forest
does not build its strength

on uniformity but on diversity.

So based on one-century perspective,

what am I going to do
to favour this symbiosis?

Here, I've made a clearing
which light enables seeds to sprout.

Elsewhere, I've made a clearing

that has strengthened the trunk
of the trees against the wind.

Somewhere else, I selected
some trees to produce timber.

It may seem surprising,
but when you cut a tree,

the overall potential
of the forest is increased.

With each decision, I chose
which tree stays and which one falls.

This obliges me to step away
before I take them.

I must constantly sharpen
my sense of observation,

look at the forest in its entirety,

and learn its functioning.

The forest is my school of life.

It helped me and is still helping me
to better understand the world

and even myself sometimes.

Personally, what I see in it
is like various paths of human life.

Some seeds have grown
far from their parents.

They are light.

Winds and birds have
carried them far away.

They are frugal, and they are
content with low quality soil

to grow and create
some shade for their offspring

and form a new community.

Other seeds, much heavier,

fall at the feet of their parents
and grow in their fold,

protected but at the same time
under a guardianship

that obliges them to make their way
between parental branches

in order to find light.

When I look at the size of a seed,

and see that with just
some earth, water and light

it produces this,

for me it's magical, It's fascinating!

We are just like these seeds.

We have a huge potential in ourselves.

And they show us that there's little
needed to make great things,

one goal - capturing the light -

and the enthusiasm to go further
and higher every day,

for a thousand seasons.

So what about me, what is my goal?

What is my plan for life?

What will make my deeds
beneficial to others,

to our future
and to our children's future?

Before that, life was for me
about finding the right balance

between enjoyment and work.

They were two opposite elements.

Enjoyment means burning
the candle at both ends, having fun ...

It's the passion for life.

Work on the other hand is tedious,
laborious and not very exciting.

The tree showed me a third path: building.

I can develop my potential
and feel fulfilled

when I try to accomplish,
even partially, a work bigger than myself

that I will not see
completed in my lifetime.

Each day, I know that what I do
brings me excitement

because it involves something
both natural and immense.

Look at the trees!

Let yourself be carried by their majesty,

by this feeling of eternity
that they spread,

this kind of calm and resolute energy.

Look at their diversity
and their complementarity.

Now me and you,

just like the emperor
and his companions, the beeches,

what are we building?

What is our goal,
our "plan for life" so to speak?

Using a century as perspective,

let's be trees!

And together, let's be a forest!

Thank you.

(Applause)