To the west, we could see a weather front moving high clouds in from the Pacific. To the north and south, where the front came parallel with us, we could see a mist rising up from the forested foothills all around us, and when this mist joined with and seeded the clouds passing overhead it turned to rain and snow, which then fell on the mountains to our east. Scientists call this regular phenomenon evapo-transpiration. I wish you could have seen it. It was breathtaking to behold, but as we watched, we had a firm realization that we were witnessing something even more beautiful than our eyes could ever take in.
Life causes life.
Heaven and Earth dance in this way endlessly, and their child is the forest. The same weather patterns move through, but now no mist rises up to seed the clouds, and the rain no longer falls so much on the mountains to the east. I was still pretty young, but it seemed altogether wrong to me that we should destroy something so big, so far beyond our understanding. I also realized then and there that weather is a life form as well. So is the Earth.