The Wood Dragon and the Year of Jubilee

A Happy End to the Year of The Wood Dragon, featuring a Merry Christmas, and a Happy Hannukah, and a very Happy New Year... The Wood Dragon Loves trees, flowers, forests, greenery, life, friendship, cooperation, and Love. It was a year for growth, vitality, and abundance.

The Friends Planted Trees

And now, the story takes us back to the Wood Dragon. Ah yes, that same Wood Dragon who offered up the Heavenly Rose before standing against The Breach in the Void. The Wood Dragon stood as a guardian, protecting humanity from The Breach.

The infinite information trees would not be quelled, however. Despite the Wood Dragon’s great power, the Void surfaced many ideas and images which required much focus to contend with. All manner of darkness and vile deceptions coming out of the Void… Was the Void really this dark and evil?

Time went on, and with it so too many battles which were waged against the ideas and images. The Wood Dragon bore the brunt of so many that would have otherwise obliterated not just humanity, but everything on Earth.

And as time ebbed and flowed beyond even the memory of it, a peculiar happening began. The Wood Dragon observed that a strange green light was emerging from beyond The Breach in the Void. And then The Blight emerging… But The Blight, though toxic, would not harm the mighty Wood Dragon…it was just a nuisance. While investigations were ongoing, though, suddenly rumbling…and lo and behold, that from The Breach and after The Blight emerged a vast silhouette…

“Ah yes, Iblis,” spoke The Wood Dragon, “you return again. You’ve grown tall and bold to emerge from The Breach. Have you come to make amends?”

“Amends? Why would I make amends?” Iblis scoffed. “You’ve been gone for so long. Humanity is weak. Look at them, covered in fear and emptiness. They have nothing to show for themselves. Not even love.”

The Wood Dragon chuckled. “Ahh, but humanity is full of surprises. Why, in your absence, humanity has begun planting trees. Trees! And in planting, they’ve found friendship, cooperation, and, dare I say it, love.”

Iblis, though seemingly formidable in form and stature, looked away somberly. “I have been. But I bet that despite your long journey here, and that in your decision to protect them when you had forgotten about me…that not a single one showed real Love to you. So I was right. Stand aside. I will do what must be done. You gave them so much more credence than me, though I am made of The Fire and they are made of nothing.”

The Wood Dragon did not chuckle this time, but smile he did. “Ahhh Iblis, but you have aspirations to be the First! So now do First things and defend against the infinities for those who come after you!”

Iblis was vexed. “I’ll wax proudly yet, I’ve prepared quite an Onslaught. There is no victory for them, or you. You think they’re safe from my reach? I’ll keep poisoning their bodies. I’ll keep poisoning the Earth. And I’ll be between them and each other, between them and you, with my barbs and jabs. I’ll divide them against each other, fatten them, ruin their child rearing…oh, I’ll devour them whole!”

To this, The Wood Dragon spread his wings. “Ah, I see. You would emerge from The Breach to ruin them and then ruin me too? But I did not give you permission to emerge. So, you will spend more time in the Void until you are permitted to emerge.”

At that rejection, Iblis roared in his own laughter. “Hahahaha, as I told you All Father, you found no Love, did you? So you think more time will produce it? They are made of nothing, whereas you made us of fire. We are better. But now you’ve made your traitorous selection plain for all to see. They will be destroyed, the vermin they all are…uncaring, unloving, unkind, impatient, vile, some of them cannibalizing themselves, some of them even insulting you as well, All Father. Stand aside. I may not be able to conquer you yet, but I can still preserve your honor and mine. No Dragon should bend their knee to humans. They are so feckless that even without my barbing, they’d soon come to me to ask for my bounty over yours. Let me show them my Blightwood Blaze.”

And though Iblis pushed and roared and deigned to fully emerge from The Breach and roil the Earth, The Wood Dragon's great power held him back. The Heavenly Rose must be permitted to do its work… “You’re wrong yet again, Iblis. They’re not perfect, far from it thanks to your tampering barbs, but they are able to love even if their love is fickle like the wildflowers. I hereby seal you here further for 12 Times. And then we will revisit and see about your case. Here then are your seals, unbreakable…and in the names of those most vulnerable that you otherwise sought to eradicate with your pharaonic temptations. And with your powers at bay, see how this Year of Jubilee is conferred despite your doubts.”

And so, with the same power that produced the Heavenly Rose, The Wood Dragon pushed Iblis back into the Void and sealed The Breach. And with The Breach sealed, The Wood Dragon was now free to resume his journeying. The seals would in the meantime keep Iblis trapped in The Void for 12 Times.

And now, back to The Friends… The Friends celebrated their new tree planting success. Though there would be much work ahead yet, the friends were satisfied with each successful new plant. However, a new foe appeared…there was much trash strewn in every direction. So much trash…all the proceeds of the previous conflicts!

How could they enjoy greening the Earth together if there was so much trash everywhere? The Friends were distraught. Would all their tree planting be for nothing, consumed by the rotting materials and leeching plastics making it into every nook and cranny? But just as it did when first bringing The Friends together, the Heavenly Rose appeared again! This time, the Heavenly Rose shone brightly and produced armaments. Each friend was thus empowered to find Blight Barbs.

As The Friends worked to gather the Blight Barbs, some disheartened. Would they really just gather and gather, seeing the pile grow larger and larger? Were they now consigned to just collection rather than planting more? Was this their lot forever?

But as they gathered, the power of the Heavenly Rose worked quietly in the background…and as they picked up trash, the Heavenly Rose would bestow Golden Nuts. These Golden Nuts would fall from above and be available to each Friend to collect further, on the basis of what trash they reclaimed or searched for… These nuts, though not directly edible, were beautiful to behold. The Friends were happy. Not only were they planting more trees and plants and greening the Earth, but now…even War Against Blight was effectual. The Blight Barbs could be collected and the Heavenly Rose would bequeath Golden Nuts in their stead.

Having fought hard against The Blight, The Friends sought time to rejoice with those they loved. Within the Branchlands, a shelter was constructed. For a host of events would now unfold…

Soon enough, The Breach produced more figures. Though they did not resemble friends, The Friends were undeterred.

“Why, do we have new visitors?” spoke The Friends.

“We are The Snake and The Snack. Your little encampment is not going to hold. We have Blight Barbs too, we carry them…in order to remind everyone of the Blight,” they spoke.

“The Snake? And The Snack?” The Friends looked at each other, puzzled. They had not encountered foes like these before. But the Heavenly Rose, watching over them, glowed brighter still.

From that glow came new instructions: “Gather the Blight Barbs in the Branchlands. Prepare the grounds, the festivals, the places for new growth.”

With that, the Heavenly Rose bestowed Golden Nuts as promised, sealing the temples to keep the celebration safe.

The Wood Dragon returned from The Void with new maps and gifts in hand. “Look now, Friends,” he spoke. “Your work is not in vain.”

“And when the time is right, you will see the lights across the lands. You will see them shine the moment they have been planted. But for now, hold fast to your tools, your Golden Nuts, and each other.”

There is a glowing pulse effect that is really nice, but that is not to be shown until the map is that saturated with activity in the future versions of logtrees.

Trashtagging

If you're interested in trashtagging via logtrees, submit your Proof of Work to start gathering nuts! Here is one of my trashtagging runs to get an idea:

More about logtrees

If you would like to read the logtrees whitepaper, please find it at logtrees whitepaper.

If you want to contribute by planting your own tree or tagging some trash, consider providing Proof of Work via logtrees.com so that your tree becomes part of the logtrees Treemap. The goal behind logtrees is to make tree planting fun via some friendly competition at the local and national level, with leaderboards, metrics, achievements, and upcoming games and incentives for those who supply Proof of Work for their tree-related activities.

logtrees also intends to support planting trees on behalf of people who would like to plant one but don't have a place where to plant. I'm building a feature to facilitate that because I want everyone to be able to contribute towards building the Treemap if they want to, even if they live in a big city or don't have the terrain or weather needed for planting a tree.

If you're interested in learning more about this once logtrees launches this feature, and if you want to receive email updates when a new blog post goes up, join the waitlist and you'll receive an email when the next batch of features is ready!

How can I submit feedback on this post?

Please feel free to email me at dany@logtrees.com, thanks for the feedback!

Would all this really make a difference?

Yes, planting trees makes a difference. Even if the full amount won't be reached, anything is better than none and it's a beautiful effort to tend to plants and learn from the experience. I'm eager to try more leaning into Spring 2024.

See: Post featuring napkin math on tree impact to atmospheric CO₂ concentrations