Paroles d'un bouleau jaune | Words of a Yellow Birch

This is the remarkable story of Old Jack, a 250-year-old yellow birch, dark colossus of the Laurentian forest, who bares his soul to a biologist. He traces the history of plants and chronicles that of his forest; he offers theories of evolution and of the origins of life; finally, he leaves us with a fundamental rule: “It is neither separation, nor exclusion, nor competition that reigns over the world of the living (…); helping one another, working together, and living in symbiosis are the keys to understanding evolution.”

Supported by recent ecological discoveries, the fable of the yellow birch provides a pretext for a powerful understanding of Nature and shines a light on the relationship between humans and… trees. A rare hybrid that lies somewhere between science essay and fable.