I am a dreamer. I’d like to make the world a better place, you know, leave it better than I found it for the next generation. The planet may be going to hell in a hand basket, so I might as well try and do something about it. I am also a believer. I believe that nature is the ultimate gift to human kind, the final refuge with the power to bring peace to our collective troubled soul. Wild landscapes are the origin of humanity and in the unplugged wild places lie the secrets we need to save our collective future on this spaceship hurtling the galaxy. You can call me a hopeless dreamer all you want, and I will only agree with you.

We all have our niche, the place to which we belong. You may be most comfortable in the kitchen or the garden, the stage or the sound room. Me, put me in a forest and life is better. Put me in the top of a tree in the forest and life is best. You can call me weird, but there are a lot of us out there who find that the meaning of life pours out of tree tops and into our hearts, channeled through climbing ropes and beamed from unfiltered sun beams or rain drops. What’s more, as a believer it is my diehard conviction that there are a lot of tree geeks who haven’t been gifted the chance to find their arboreal spirit, and that there are lessons in tree tops for everyman.

Canopy Watch International has a mission: to share love and understanding of forest canopies with the world. We can’t save what we don’t love and we can’t love what we don’t know. Are you locked up at work or at school? You live in a city? Come with us. Climb high, see wild monkeys and tropical birds, camp in the forest a hundred feet off the ground, and love life. It’s a simple message.

It’s an old Chinese belief that if you look closely you can see the future in tea leaves. I tried it today. I had to focus real hard because my perception felt blurred by visions of caffeine addiction, but the more I concentrated the more I could see some tree journeys in 2016. I think there is time in the Dominican Republic climbing after the critically endangered Ridgway’s Hawk. I think I also saw time in Arenal National Park in Costa Rica. There might be some camping in old-growth forests in Washington or Oregon, sleeping in treeboats amongst the owls, eye level with the stars. You’re invited. Stay tuned.