Peter Wohlleben

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Peter Wohlleben (2016)

Peter Wohlleben (* 1964 in Bonn ) is a German forester and author . He advocates ecologically and economically sustainable forest management . His book The Secret Life of Trees , published in 2015, met with worldwide interest .

Life

Peter Wohlleben spent the first years of his life in Bonn's Weststadt , his father worked in the Federal Ministry of Finance . When Wohlleben was five years old, the family moved to Sinzig . After graduating from the Rhein-Gymnasium in 1983, Wohlleben first wanted to study biology. Instead, on the advice of his mother, he applied to the State Forestry Administration of Rhineland-Palatinate , which hired him as a forest inspector and made it possible to train as a qualified forest engineer at what is now Rottenburg University of Applied Sciences .

After becoming a civil servant , Wohlleben first worked as an office manager in a forestry office before he got a job as a forester for the Hümmel community in 1991 . In the local area, predominantly conventional forest management was carried out. In the 1990s, the Rhineland-Palatinate state forest administration promoted ecological forest development, which meant doing without clear-cutting , monocultures and other methods. In the course of this, Wohlleben began to transform the Hümmel community forest back into a primeval forest. In addition to his commitment to ecological forest management, he organized hikes for tourists and organized courses for schoolchildren. Wohlleben also carried out survival training, for example. His role in the introduction of a burial forest caused controversial debates .

Under Wohlleben's management, the Hümmel forest district returned to profitability. Against the background of an organizational reform in the state forests and the criticism of traditional management methods, Wohlleben resigned his official position in 2006 and switched to the service of the community as an employee. From then on, he pushed his idea of ​​an ecologically and economically justifiable nature conservation. After the neighboring communities of Ohlenhard and Wershofen had joined the Hümmel forest district, a second forester was hired.

In 2007 Wohlleben first appeared as a writer. Over the years he published several non-fiction books and became a bestselling author. Due to a burnout in 2009 and a heart disease in 2016, Wohlleben had to give up his forest district. The burden of being a forester and a writer had become too great. Since then, the "Hümmel Forest Academy", founded in early 2017, has been a focus of his work. The object of the company is, among other things, the implementation of events, seminars and hikes, the sale of teaching materials and specialist literature as well as the management and support of forest operations.

As a nature and hiking guide, Peter Wohlleben explores various forest areas in southwest Germany in two-day excursions in the television series Who speaks with the forest - On the way with Peter Wohlleben with two celebrities each. The first six episodes were broadcast by Südwestrundfunk in autumn 2018. In January 2020, the documentary The Secret Life of Trees was released , directed by Jörg Adolph .

plant

In 2007, Wohlleben dealt with the conflict of interests between forestry and hunting in his first book Forest Without Guardians . He later stated in an interview that he rejected hunting as a hobby and, if necessary, accepted it in order to protect the plants. In 2008, in Holzrausch , the author scrutinized the boom in wood-fired power stations, pellet heating systems and domestic fireplaces. In 2009 Wohlleben criticized nature conservation without nature because, in his opinion, many German landscapes are artifacts of intensive cultivation. In 2010, in The Own Forest , he provided practical advice on the ecologically and economically optimal use of private forests.

Wohlleben became known to a broader public at the latest through the book Evolution 2.0 , in which, among other things, he dealt with the overpopulation of the earth and the loss of biodiversity. In 2011, with Understanding trees , the author returned thematically to his roots by trying to bring people closer to the essence of trees. In Crane Fly and Flower from 2012 felt Wohlleben other natural phenomena. In 2013 he renewed his plea for primeval forests with Der Wald - ein Obituary and implemented his concept in Mein Wald in a practice-oriented manner. In 2014 Wohlleben tried to explain the feelings of animals .

Wohlleben had his greatest success to date in 2015 with The Secret Life of Trees , which was released as a movie in 2020. The book was at the top of the bestseller lists in 2015 and 2016 , and in the following year it was still one of the most popular non-fiction books . In it, for example, the author tells of trees that exchange nutrients via their root system or emit fragrances to warn of pests. In the same year, Wohlleben and his wife wrote Meine kleine Farm to pass on the couple's experience of being self-sufficient . In addition, he gave practical tips for hikers and other forest visitors in Human Traces in the Forest (2015) and Wohllebens Waldführer (2016). In addition, Das Seelenleben der Tiere was published in 2016 . In the book Wohlleben deals with the question of whether animals have feelings and awareness.

In 2017, Wohlleben's instructions for use for the forest were published , which again focus on the careful handling of humans with the forest ecosystem. When you hear how the trees talk? it was the author's first children's book . The secret network of nature is his latest work. Although individual theses were already known from other works, Wohlleben provided the most comprehensive description of his view of flora and fauna to date.

reception

Wohlleben experienced the greatest media reception with the work The Secret Life of Trees . Wieland Freund praised it in the world as a “fascinating book” about a huge creature that has hid from us so far. Jan Heidtmann emphasized in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that Wohlleben had "given the forest back its soul". His reports were reminiscent of the romanticism of Joseph von Eichendorff and had an effect like the science fiction film Avatar . Denis Scheck explained in the Tagesspiegel that every reader of the book will see the forest with different eyes from now on. Sebastian Jutzi in Bild der Wissenschaft was of the same opinion . Andrea Wulf described the work in an article for the Washington Post as "illuminating" and "thoroughly entertaining", but criticized at the same time "humanizing" and "cute" formulations. Richard Fortey classified in Nature the "captivating book" as "stimulating natural history" containing "many new scientific discoveries". However, he complained about the narrative style.

In the afterword to the English-language edition The Hidden Life of Trees , Suzanne Simard, professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia , wrote that Wohlleben represents “groundbreaking discoveries in a stimulating narrative”, so that “every chapter is an aha experience”. However, experts repeatedly accused the author of “emotionalising the forest and spreading half-truths”. For example, Christian Ammer , Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology of Temperate Zones at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen , was disappointed about the lack of critical analysis of Wohlleben's theses in the press. Ammer also complained that well-being, The Secret Life of Trees, was blurring the line between facts and conjecture and that it could neither be considered a science nor a popular science. Ulrich Schraml, Professor of Forest and Environmental Policy at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg , argued in an article for the Holz-Zentralblatt that Wohlleben's theses were based on the book The Secret Life of Plants , published in the early 1970s , without mentioning it, and often left the established state of forest science knowledge. Schraml criticizes that Wohlleben slips from the metaphor into the metaphysical , but at the same time warned the professional world to deal constructively with Wohlleben.

In his book The True Life of Trees , the author and biologist Torben Halbe Wohlleben criticizes The Secret Life of Trees . In an interview in the specialist journal Holz-Zentralblatt, Halbe describes Wohlleben's book as harmful to the environment, as Wohlleben demands that wood production in Germany be cut back on a large scale. Halbe accuses Wohlleben of scientific ignorance and disrespect for those who work in the forest and of manipulating his readers. Halbe tries to refute essential theses and arguments of Wohlleben. Wohlleben does not draw a real, but a fictitious, “perfect” “Bambi forest”, which prevents factual discussions. In the media, Wohlleben and his books are uncritically given a lot of space. "Opinion journalism" prevents a scientific discourse. In Torben Halbes Buch, Carina Schwab recognizes a necessary reaction to The Secret Life of Trees , which has caused shaking heads and disbelief in specialist circles. Wohlleben, on the other hand, claims that his observations and findings are backed up with source material without going into Halbe's arguments.

Wohlleben's more recent works have again received more and more positive feedback. Jens Jessen wrote in Die Zeit that the soul life of animals was “not kitsch, but the result of serious research and long observation”. On Deutschlandfunk Kultur , Johannes Kaiser explained that Wohlleben's findings are not new, but the book “always amazes”. Denis Scheck explained in the Tagesspiegel that well-being extends “our perception of the world”. After the publication of The Secret Network of Nature , Michael Pilz spoke in Welt Online of "romance in the digital age".

Publications

Awards

Web links

Commons : Peter Wohlleben  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

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  27. ↑ Mark Bittner: Burnout after a bestseller! In: bild.de . January 24, 2017, accessed February 1, 2018 .
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  29. ↑ Gabi Geller: Forest Academy brings life to the village . In: Rhein-Zeitung . May 27, 2017, p. 16 .
  30. ^ Waldakademie Hümmel GmbH & Co. KG. Bundesanzeiger Verlag, accessed on February 1, 2018 (Koblenz District Court, HRA 21855).
  31. ↑ Who speaks to the forest - In the new SWR format, forest expert Peter Wohlleben takes celebrities on an adventure trip through the local nature. Südwestrundfunk. 17th October 2018.
  32. ↑ The Secret Life of Trees on Filmstarts.de, accessed on January 23, 2020.
  33. ↑ Marianne Quoirin: The forest has a friend . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . February 14, 2008.
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  41. ↑ The author is on the trail of natural phenomena . In: Rhein-Zeitung . November 3, 2012, p. 12 .
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  43. ↑ Jana Gioia Baurmann: Lord of the trees . No. 14 , 2013, p. 31 .
  44. ↑ Lively obituary for the forest . In: Westfalen-Blatt . 12th March 2013.
  45. ↑ My forest - sustainable, gentle, economical. In: biothemen.de. Retrieved February 1, 2018 .
  46. ↑ Their voices rang out before those of the people . In: Luxemburger Tageblatt . 19th March 2015.
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  53. ↑ Petra Haase: The Tree Understander . In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung . October 17, 2015, p. 13 .
  54. ↑ a b Wieland Freund: From the Bäumischen by Peter Wohlleben . In: The world . July 4, 2015, p. 5 .
  55. ↑ Rena Beeg: Our little farm . In: image of the woman . September 11, 2015, p. 54 .
  56. ↑ Healthy fruits from your own garden . In: Nordkurier . November 7, 2015, p. 14 .
  57. ↑ Maria Dohmen, Stefan Worring: When everything bears fruit . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . September 26, 2015.
  58. ↑ Traces of people in the forest . In: Münchner Merkur . January 30, 2016.
  59. ↑ Thomas Weber: The call of the wild . In: Courier . June 13, 2017, p. 34 .
  60. ↑ Animals also experience happiness and joy . In: Frankfurter Neue Presse . July 20, 2016, p. 2 .
  61. ↑ Cécile Hoeborn: Animals have feelings like us . In: image of the woman . June 10, 2016, p. 30 .
  62. ↑ Michael Pilz: You think therefore I am . In: Welt am Sonntag . June 26, 2016, p. 60 .
  63. ^ Lutz Wendler: News from the tree understanding. In: Abendblatt.de. February 25, 2017, accessed February 1, 2018 .
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  65. ↑ Hubert Filser: Do trees get pimples too? In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 27, 2017.
  66. ↑ Michael Pilz: Wald Weit Web . In: The world . June 19, 2017, p. 30 .
  67. ↑ Stephan Klemm: Forest, worm, wolf . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . October 6, 2017.
  68. ↑ Volker Weinl, Dominik Sommerfeld: The secret network of nature. In: bild.de. September 9, 2017, accessed February 1, 2018 .
  69. ^ Richard Grant: Do Trees Talk to Each Other? In: Smithsonian Magazine . March 2018 (English, smithsonianmag.com [accessed March 1, 2018]).
  70. ↑ Jan Heidtmann: The tree whisperer . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . November 20, 2015 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed February 1, 2018]).
  71. ↑ Denis Scheck: Main thing, the money is right! In: Der Tagesspiegel . February 21, 2016, p. 28 .
  72. ↑ The best 6 . The bdw jury read through a mountain of books again this year - and selected the 6 “Knowledge Books of the Year”. In: Image of Science . No. 12 , 2015.
  73. ^ Andrea Wulf: The subtle communication skills of trees. In: washingtonpost.com. October 7, 2016, accessed February 1, 2018 .
  74. ^ Richard Fortey: Dendrology: The community of trees . In: Nature . tape 537 , no. 7620 , 2016, p. 306 (English, nature.com [accessed on February 16, 2018]).
  75. ^ Peter Wohlleben: The Hidden Life of Trees . William Collins Publishing, 2016, ISBN 978-0-00-821843-0 , pp. 247 (English).
  76. ↑ Jens Albes: Germany's tree understanders in the criticism . In: Rhein-Zeitung . January 10, 2018, p. 27 .
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  78. ↑ Ulrich Schraml: Peter and the forest . In: Holz-Zentralblatt . No. 17 , 2016, p. 437 ( anw-nrw.de [PDF; accessed on February 1, 2018]).
  79. ↑ Torben Halbe: The true life of trees: A book against imagined environmental protection . 1st edition. Woll Verlag, Schmallenberg 2017, ISBN 978-3-943681-75-8 .
  80. ↑ Against built-in uncompromisingness . In: Holz-Zentralblatt . No. 43 , November 27, 2017, p. 985 .
  81. ↑ Carina Schwab: The true life of trees. In: waldwissen.net. August 1, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017 .
  82. ↑ Jens Albes: Dispute about the forest . In: Darmstädter Echo . January 13, 2018, p. 44 .
  83. ↑ Jens Jessen: The soul life of animals . In: The time . No. 28 , 2016, p. 43 ( zeit.de [accessed February 1, 2018] features section).
  84. ↑ Johannes Kaiser: Animals are only humans. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. July 1, 2016, accessed February 1, 2018 .
  85. ↑ Denis Scheck: Knalltüte . In: Der Tagesspiegel . November 20, 2016, p. 25 .
  86. ↑ Michael Pilz: No network is more social than the forest. In: welt.de. September 16, 2017, accessed February 1, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Well-being, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German forester and author
DATE OF BIRTH 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn , Germany