As a child, I was cradled in the emerald embrace of my aunt’s garden in Nairobi, Kenya. The ‘shamba’ was a playground of foliage, dazzling me with many plants in all sizes of recycled containers, pots, barrels, and cans. The air was a perfumed melody of floral scents, underscored by…

Here in the wilderness of the Puertorican subtropical wet forest, I am acutely aware of the multifaceted nature of my role. Today, as I battled with levels of bureaucracy of some of the Puertorican agencies, yearning to walk away from my desk and into the nursery, I engaged in a…

All Images by 3t Vakil The ability of trees to control erosion and retain soil integrity is truly remarkable and plays a vital role in maintaining the stability of our landscapes. This unique characteristic stems from their extensive and intricate root systems, which act as anchors firmly holding the soil…

All images by 3t Vakil The vibrant dawn of another day unfurls in the heart of the Puerto Rican rainforest, my adopted home for the past 23 years. I describe myself as a Performance Scientist and Research Artist; my life is like a river coursing through this forest, through dense…

I was raped, and I did not scream.

In my early 20s, I had a vision. It was a dream-like experience, surreal and unsettling. In this vision, I was standing outside a mountain, not at the base or at the top. The air was thin and chilly; I was unable to sense the earth. As I watched this…

News from our rainforest mountain biome in southeast Puerto Rico As an inhabitant of Puerto Rico’s lush rainforest for the last twenty-two years, I am witnessing a devastating phenomenon firsthand: the severe decline of insect populations in our forest. I have not done a scientific study on this, and I…

Exploring the history and authenticity of mahogany, a hardwood with a little-known hybrid. Many woodworkers today may not know how to identify genuine mahogany due to the widespread use of the term to describe other types of wood that have similar characteristics or appearance. For example, some woods from South America and Africa are marketed as "mahogany,” but they are not true Swietenia…

We arrived to inspect the trees that the owner wished to prune around a dilapidated house, a sprawling forested estate near El Yunque, in Puerto Rico, but before we even set foot on the ground from the car, we were greeted by the bone-chilling sound of a dog’s deep bark—a…