Trees that connect: Recording the birth of a Miyawaki forest

Episode transcript

[MUSIC]

Clayton Collins:  Urban tree-planting has become an important tool in global efforts to cool heavily built areas while also sequestering carbon. A special kind of pocket forest, the Miyawaki forest, does that and more: promoting native plant species and biodiversity in very dense spaces, and becoming, by design, self-sufficient within two to three years. 

This is “Why We Wrote This.” I’m Clay Collins.

Today’s guest, Jingnan Peng, jumped into the Miyawaki story using the video format, one of his favorite means of storytelling. Jing’s also been a regular producer of this show since we launched a year ago. Back in January, he spoke with Samantha Laine Perfas about his videography, broadly. This encore episode includes material from that episode. 

Thanks for coming back over to this side of the studio glass, Jing, to talk about this latest video of yours.

Jingnan Peng: Thank you so much, Clay. It’s good to be here.

Collins:  So Jing, you often focus on ingenuity and community and on efforts to improve life, especially for marginalized groups. Here, you’re reporting on a young woman’s agency around fighting for nature, for trees. What drew you to this local piece of an international story, the Miyawaki Forest story?

Peng: So initially, I wanted to do something about trees. They’re beautiful and they’re calming, and pleasant to look at. And I thought it could be a nice topic for videos. Since I’m in Boston, I just did a Google search: “urban forests, Boston.” And I found this story about the first Miyawaki forest planted in Cambridge in 2021. 

What was interesting about the Miyawaki method is that it’s not just planting just any tree. It’s really thinking about what’s the forest ecosystem that existed in a location before there’s a city. And trying to approximate what that native forest ecosystem would have looked like. So it’s really an ecosystem approach.  

So I reached out to the group, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, the group that made this project happen. And they were about to plant a second forest. So there’s going to be action. So I’m like: “Great, that’s a good thing for a video.”

Collins:  Right.

Peng: And also, I was really impressed by Maya Dutta. She was the project manager of both forests. She’s younger than I. I felt like she really blossomed from, you know, she started as someone who was really avoidant and fearful of environmental doom. And then she watched this anime film, “Princess Mononoke,” which is about ecological destruction and sort of the two main characters working to protect the forest. And she was just so struck by it that she decided to switch from a software developer to working on the environment. And she eventually found ecological restoration as her path. She says projects like the Miyawaki forest, you really see some of the ecological benefits within a matter of years. It’s tangible benefits that for her provides her a sense of grounded hope.

Also, through this process, she got to work with different groups, and also feel a connection with different types of trees around her. It just seemed like this whole project connected her with the wider world around her in a way that’s really positive and hopeful for her.

Collins:  Yeah, I suspect Maya would really like that you use the term “blossoming” in terms of her coming into this, this project. I saw what you did there. Uh, I remember at one point, during this filming, which took place over a number of months, you enthusiastically telling me that the insects were coming in. You jumped up from your desk and you ran off with your camera. Another time you went back to get drone footage because the first time you’d done that, there were shadows. So how much did it benefit this project, that you were able to shuttle back and forth repeatedly and film it at all these different stages of development?

Peng: It’s super important, because part of the qualities of the Miyawaki forest is [that] it’s designed to grow very fast, and grow to be biodiverse and function as a forest ecosystem. I first went with Maya to the older forest a year after it was planted. And we saw these different types of mushrooms including these giant ones that were like four palms big. That’s a sign of fungal life underground. And now we know that a healthy forest has this whole fungal network underground. 

Collins:  Right. 

Peng: A few months later, I went with an entomologist. Walked into the forest and captured various types of insects. And I could tell the forest is noticeably taller than when I first went with Maya. But then, two months later, I passed by that forest one night in August.  It took me a second to realize it’s the same forest.

Collins:  Wow.

Peng: Because it’s so much taller. And you can’t walk into it anymore, it’s so dense. So we did the drone shoots. And those visuals really helped tell the story.

Collins:  Very cool. And it was almost a time-lapse effect. It was growing so fast, uh, when you went back. Another key element of this story, and it comes through in the video, is the way in which these little neighborhood forests foster community, the one in Cambridge in particular. Did it surprise you how much of a community effort this was given how specialized the work is?

Peng: It is pretty impressive. Both forests were largely planted by community members. And that’s a lot of trees. You know, the first forest was 1,400 trees planted by about 100 people. The second forest, you know, 900 trees planted by about, I think, 50 people. The steps before planting, like selecting the species, prepping the soil – those were done by specialists. But when it comes to planting, actually, one of the hallmarks, Maya told me, is to involve locals, so people can learn about ecological restoration. 

Collins:  Right. 

Peng: Maya’s group, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, they spread the word before planting day. And on planting day there were lots of people who were just passing by and were curious. And so Maya told them what it is, taught them how to plant a tree. And they ended up planting their own trees. There was a lot of energy and joy around.  And I sort of alternated between filming and planting. I actually planted a few trees myself. It was also good to just do it yourself to get a sense of how it feels and that, I think, informed a little bit of my filming.

Collins:  Sure, yeah. You know, when you were on the show in January, you described to our former colleague, Sam, that immersive nature of video [for viewers]. This one became immersive for you, too. Really, a long term project and a labor of love. How did you know when you had enough to tell the story visually, and also what do you hope viewers will take away?

Peng: So, before I go on a shoot, I’ve done some pre interviews, so I have a sense of, you know, what are the points that a video is trying to make. And then I write out a list of shots that I anticipate might happen that will convey those ideas. And during the shoot, I try to, you know, keep that list in my mind and get those shots. But there’s lot of things you can’t predict. The actual environment, the actual people who are there. So I just try to be on the lookout for anything that looks surprising and interesting. 

The coolest moments you can’t plan. There was this little girl who was planting one of the trees. And she said, “Welcome home!” You know, so it was like a nice, sweet moment.

Collins:  Aw. That is nice.

Peng: I hope viewers will experience the beauty of the plants and learn about the Miyawaki method. I hope they’ll like Maya’s story, which, as I said, is a story of going from avoiding a problem to tackling it face on. So yeah, I hope viewers will really like her story.

Collins:  That’s great. Well, thank you, Jing. Good things happen when you do your storytelling from behind a camera. And, um, so great you were able to do this one by subway.

Thank you so much. That was great.

Collins:  Now, here’s that January 2023 interview, which was hosted by Sam. 

Samantha Laine Perfas: I’m joined by someone who is often working behind the scenes on this podcast, but who does incredible multimedia work for the Monitor, Jingnan Peng. Jing produces the majority of the episodes you listen to, but he also has extensive experience reporting video stories for the Monitor. Welcome Jing! 

Peng: Hi, Sam. 

Laine Perfas: To get started, why don’t you just tell us a little bit about yourself. 

Peng: So I grew up in Beijing. At the age of 18, I came to the US for college and grad school, and I’ve been with the Monitor for six years. I mainly do video pieces.

Laine Perfas: What type of stories do you typically pursue? 

Peng: Yeah, I realize I have done a lot of stories that are about minority groups. I do a fair amount of stories about the disability community. I think there’s a personal connection there because my parents, they’re both disabled. And also I’ve done some videos that look at the experience of Black communities, Native Americans, etc. 

Laine Perfas: Could you give us some examples of recent videos you’ve done? What was it that was powerful about them to report, or what was it that made them video-worthy? 

Peng: I just reported a story in Georgia about a disabled veteran who organizes free, accessible rides for disabled folks to go vote. In 2020, they offered more than 150 rides for people with a variety of disabilities. And this year for the midterms, they’ve gotten hundreds of rides out. And I think it’s a great example of disabled people helping each other. 

Suzanne Thornton: I can let  you use my wheelchair so you can use it, go vote, and then we’ll swap out. 

Jes Gordon: Oh, that’s OK, I want to try to… I want to try! [Laughs.]

Peng: People might often see stories where disabled folks are framed as the ones who need help, the ones who are receiving help, sometimes from able-bodied folks. But the truth is that disabled people are constantly helping each other. From various videos that I’ve reported, I’ve been witnessing the agency and ingenuity of disabled folks. 

Laine Perfas: Another somewhat recent video you did was looking at a language nest in Alaska. Could you talk about that one, too? 

Peng: I went with my colleague Jess Mendoza to Fairbanks, Alaska, to capture a day at a language nest, which is a daycare that immerses kids, toddlers, in their ancestral language. So it’s a method used by Indigenous communities around the world to revitalize their languages. In the US there are many factors that have contributed to the marginalization or disappearance of Native American languages. 

Evon Peter: With my mother, there was one of the early teachers who literally hit her over the head with a log, a piece of firewood, for speaking her language. And my mom is quite defiant, she said she spoke our language again, and he hit her again. And she spoke our language again defiantly. And he said, “I would hit you again with this log but I’m worried it’s going to cause brain  damage to you, so get out of here.” My mother had not even shared that story with me until we started Tanan Ch’at’oh. Our parents’ or grandparents’ generation chose not to speak that language to their kids because they didn’t want their kids to suffer those same humiliations and wounds. And that was very hard for my generation. There was this hurt of not feeling native enough in some cases because we weren’t able to understand our language or to speak our language. 

Peng: It was really striking to be in a space where that language is the only language that you are allowed to speak. There is an intention behind the space that is to create an environment where that ancestral language is not marginalized. What I witnessed in the language nest is a space where the language is associated with love, care, and joy. 

Hilda Johnson: When the children come to me and say something in Gwich’in, it just sometimes brings tears to my eyes listening to little babies talk in our native language. 

Peng: And I really hope that brings healing to multiple generations of the community. 

Laine Perfas: What would you say is the value of video as a format as opposed to a print story or a podcast? 

Peng: There’s something about video that is really immersive. You know, the camera takes the audience into the lives of the subjects. And so there is a certain immediacy and vividness that you don’t quite get with a text story. For instance, you know, I did a story about a Black quilt artist. And I can put my camera, you know, super close to her sewing machine and I can put my camera super close to her face, like her expression when she’s making that quilt. There’s this, all of this wonderful detail and texture of the lives of my subjects. 

Laine Perfas: How do you approach video reporting as a Monitor journalist? 

Peng: I try to find change-makers. The Monitor loves to do solutions journalism, which [means] stories that not only explore a problem, but also look at people who are working to address them. It’s a wonderful instinct to have because a story that only looks at the problems might not be covering the whole picture. So when I am researching for stories, that is a compass that I have. Where are the change-makers? 

Laine Perfas: When you produce these videos, what is your hope in terms of how it might impact the viewer? 

Peng: I hope that it will broaden people’s horizons. Especially with underrepresented communities, people might not know much about the full spectrum and the full complexity of their lives. When I was in Georgia reporting on the disabled veteran who’s organizing free accessible rides to the polls, I was really struck by one thing they said. They said that being disabled taught them how people are interconnected and interdependent. For something as simple as just going out on an outing with other disabled folks, some people might need help with eating or drinking. Some people might need help with going to the bathroom. And so they just help each other. COVID has perhaps made the whole society realize how we’re interdependent. But that is a wisdom that disabled people might already have and have had for a long time. 

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Collins: Thanks for listening. Find our show notes, with links to the video we discussed and to other video, audio, and text reporting by Jing, at CSMonitor.com/WhyWeWroteThis. This episode was hosted by me, Clay Collins, and produced by Jingnan Peng and Mackenzie Farkus. Our sound engineer was Alyssa Britton. The January episode was co-produced by Morgan Anderson. Original music is by Noel Flatt. Produced by the Christian Science Monitor. Copyright 2023.