Trees have memory that offers some lessons

One of the joys of playing golf is admiring nature’s beauty espoused by trees, flowers and grass. A few sandy bunkers and water features add to the beauty of the game.

Humbly, on a recent outing at Vetlab Golf Course in Upper Kabete, I noticed some trees are shedding their leaves. That happens in fall or autumn in temperate regions as trees and other vegetation prepare for winter.

Without a change in seasons, there are few deciduous trees in the tropics. The trees shedding leaves in Kenya are exotic - imported by mzungu from South Africa, Britain, Australia and other regions.

Curiously, they did not forget their behaviour even after being transplanted into a different climatic region. There are two major lessons for us from this.

One is that as we think of reversing climate change, we must plant appropriate trees, more at home with our climate. Does this explain why we plant more trees but no commensurate increase in rain?

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Like trees, changing is hard. Look at our politics, our workplace, our homes, and even ourselves. Even when change is positive, we resist it.

But as humans, we can do better than trees, changing and taking advantage of our environment. 

That is what other nationalities have done. Change is better when one has an anchor, your culture.

How do Indians keep their mother tongue, wear a sari and still go to Harvard and Silicon Valley?

How did Britons conquer the world with their language and cultures intact?

How has China become a world power and remained Chinese? Please take a walk through a golf course, and learn from nature. You could sweet talk me for sponsorship.