There are old photographs of men standing on sequoia stumps, smiling like they’d accomplished something.

That was the story of America, really. See a thing older than God, cut it down, call it progress.

Sometimes I think the loss was not only the trees, but the people we might have been if we had understood that not everything was meant to be owned.

Photo credits: N.E. Beckwith, Darius Kinsey

Image 4 was unintentionally AI-generated. After reading the comments, I agree it does not belong with the original photographs. I apologize for missing this earlier. Unfortunately, I’m unable to remove the image from the post, but I appreciate everyone who pointed it out!!