The Sycamore Tree: The Anthropocene Reviewed

In which John plays the why game before discovering that he is in the vast shade of a sycamore tree.

You can listen to this and every episode of The Anthropocene Reviewed wherever you get your podcasts. This review was edited by Stan Muller. The music was composed by Hannis Brown. Jenny Lawton and Rosianna Halse Rojas produced it. Joe Plourde was the technical director. It was written by me.

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[vlogbrothers]

You can listen to this and every episode of The Anthropocene Reviewed wherever you get your podcasts. This review was edited by Stan Muller. The music was composed by Hannis Brown. Jenny Lawton and Rosianna Halse Rojas produced it. Joe Plourde was the technical director. It was written by me. There's no semi-secret livestream today due to deadline pressures. Sorry! See you next week, hopefully.
-John

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

"A blessed and beautiful silence" - Hank Green's next book

[DobraEspacial]

I find it difficult to express how deeply your writing reaches me, John. Thanks.

[JosephClayson]

Hank: Hey want to see some cool stuff under a microscope?
John: WHAT IS EVEN THE POINT OF ANYTHING!?

[IsaacCarlson]

I simultaneously feel existential dread and a deep calmness after listening to this review. Absolutely fascinating, brilliant, and thought provoking.

[WaseemYusuf]

This guy sounds super articulate. He should write a book or something.

[coolpeepsunite]

One absolutely wild thing, John, is that a sycamore tree isn't mostly water, dirt, and sunlight turned into wood and leaves and such; it gets most of its mass from the air! The carbon that makes up all that wood and leaves isn't taken up through the roots but grabbed straight out of the air. It's astounding that all that solid sturdy stuff is also just floating around as we breathe it. We exhale wood parts, scrap building material for the trees. I hope I've helped a good few trees in my time. Lord knows they've given us a lot.

[fuliajulia]

There was a big sycamore tree in my backyard when I was a kid and whenever I was angry or despairing I would go out and hug it. I think I will hug a tree today.

[mystic_mexicana]

“Why” is probably one of the most annoying and important questions ever.

[VKiera]

One of my favorite recent quotes I read, “If there really is no reason to do anything, then there is also no reason to not do anything”

[stevenmoskos]

Hank seeing this: I see you and I hear you and this is longer than 4 minutes.

[emilymerckx]

As someone who also struggles with depression and anxiety, I really appreciate John talking openly about it, especially when it's this poetic. For some reason, hearing you talk like this, even when it feels upsetting, brings me hope. I often think to myself "what is the point?", and then I see my friends across campus, or I get a vlogbrothers notification, or something else that is small but brings me joy happens, and I realize that there is a point somewhere, it just needs to be found.Thank you John.

[eshitasahu]

Sometimes I forget that John is a writer....then videos like these come along....keep it up John!

[Kelleyfiafia]

Quietly sings to myself : We're here, because we're here, because we're here, because we're here! Thank you for sharing so deeply John, this is so beautiful!

[Beryllahawk]

Once again, crying
Once again, struggling
Once again, comforted in obscure ways that I cannot articulate well if at all
Once again
Grateful

[sundaesorceress]

"Now always feels infinite, and never is. You keep going."

I really needed to hear that today.

[Rosalie_Jansen]

This digital painting process is so mesmerising to look at, it goes perfectly with John's calming voice.
I love this channel so much.

[xadian]

John. I just want you to know that this essay has been with me in the darkest moments of my life. It's taken me through tears and through complete numbness to the world. I have the part starting with "But of course the problem with dispair..." memorised by heart and it has been a compass pointing towards where I want to go ever since I heard it

[clairezalla]

John: "The darkness which is you."
Me: Gosh, I hope John can bring this back around to end the video on a positive note.
John: "Except it's not really a darkness"
Me: Phew
John: "It's much worse than that."
Me: Oh.

Edit: another beautiful, thoughtful essay, John! ❤️

[craven]

When I have thoughts like “What kind of mouth breathing jackass looks at the state of humanity with anything other than nihilistic despair?” ...I try to remember how Andrew Solomon describes the insidious trick depression tries to play on you:

"You don't think in depression that you've put on a gray veil and are seeing the world through the haze of a bad mood. You think that the veil has been taken away, the veil of happiness, and that now you're seeing truly"