increasingly prone to blood disorders if exposed excessively to such
radiation. People living in close proximity to high-tension cables
have been shown to have a higher than normal incidence of disease.
According to a study of the Commonwealth Scientific and Indus-
trial Research Organization (CSIRO), an increase in tree ring width
of Huon pines in Australia, more rapid in the last forty years than in
any other period since AD 900, suggests that this internal microwave-
induced warming is accelerating. We don't know what happened
then; there may have been either a series of gigantic volcanic erup-
tions or a massive increase in cosmic radiation.The importance of photosynthesis
Nature works through pulsation, through inhaling and exhaling,
like the ocean tides on the shore. The rising Sun draws up the tree's
sap charged with trace-elements, gases and minerals, to support the
process of photosynthesis and its conversion of CO 2 into oxygen
(the inbreath). Photosynthesis, however, is intimately connected
with the amount and the quality of the available light. When the
level of light falls, then growth, photosynthesis and the creation of
chlorophyll diminish and less oxygen is transformed and released
into the atmosphere. Then the tide starts to ebb, and the sap ceases
to transport the nutrients upwards.
We think of photosynthesis as the process of converting CO 2 to
O 2 for us to breathe, but it serves two functions vital for the tree
itself: to convert the nutritious sap into carbohydrates (which
releases O 2 ) and to produce evaporation in the form of oxygen and
water to cool the tree and release oxygen into the environment. This
is not the vaporization associated with sweating, but is the effect of
energy concentration or densification. Magnesium is required, in
addition to H 2 O and CO 2 , in order to make chlorophyll, the green
protective pigment in the leaves, a third process which releases O 2.
These three processes all require light (see Fig. 15.6).
Exactly the same chemical formula that is required to produce
chlorophyll, but without light (i.e. underground) also produces
hydrogen (and magnesium carbonate). This free hydrogen is an
essential ingredient for the production of water, the other being
oxygen, which is provided by rainwater percolating into the
ground. It is exciting to note that these two identical combina-
tions of Mg, H 2 O and CO 2 , one with and the other without light,
- THE LIFE AND NATURE OF TREES