Finding the Mother Tree

Finding the Mother Tree Plot Summary

Introduction

Beneath our feet lies a hidden world of remarkable complexity and intelligence. For centuries, we have walked through forests seeing only what grows above ground—the majestic trunks, spreading branches, and rustling leaves. But this visible forest represents merely half the story. Deep in the soil, an intricate network of fungal connections links trees in what scientists now call the "wood-wide web," a communication system that allows forests to function not as collections of individuals but as cooperative communities. This underground network challenges our fundamental understanding of forests and, indeed, of nature itself. The discoveries revealed in these pages overturn conventional wisdom about how forests work. Far from being silent, solitary organisms engaged in a competitive struggle for survival, trees communicate, share resources, recognize their kin, and even nurture their young through underground fungal connections. At the center of these networks stand "Mother Trees"—ancient giants that serve as hubs connecting dozens of other trees, facilitating resource sharing and communication throughout the forest community. Understanding these connections offers profound insights not just for forest management but for human society as we face unprecedented environmental challenges. Whether you're a forest enthusiast, an environmental advocate, or simply someone curious about the hidden intelligence of nature, this journey into the social lives of trees will forever change how you walk through a forest.

Chapter 1: Origins: Personal Journey into Forest Ecology (1980s)

In the dense inland rainforests of British Columbia during the early 1980s, a young forestry student named Suzanne Simard noticed something that contradicted everything she had been taught. Working for a logging company, she observed that carefully planted conifer seedlings in clear-cut areas were struggling to survive despite being free from competition, while naturally regenerating seedlings in the forest understory thrived. This puzzling contrast sparked a question that would guide decades of groundbreaking research: What invisible relationships were supporting trees in natural forests that were missing in plantation settings? Simard's journey into forest ecology was shaped by her family's deep connection to these landscapes. For generations, her family had worked as loggers in western Canada, practicing selective harvesting that maintained forest diversity and function. This traditional approach contrasted sharply with the industrial forestry practices she encountered in her professional work—clear-cutting vast areas and replanting with single-species monocultures. The disconnect between these approaches raised fundamental questions about forest management that conventional forestry science couldn't answer. The first clue came when Simard examined the roots of healthy seedlings growing in natural forests compared to struggling ones in clear-cuts. The healthy seedlings were covered with colorful fungal threads—yellow, white, pink, purple—forming intricate patterns around the root tips. These mycorrhizal fungi, she discovered, formed symbiotic relationships with trees, extending their reach into the soil in exchange for sugars produced through photosynthesis. When she tried growing seedlings in sterilized soil that lacked these fungi, they invariably failed. But adding just a handful of soil from beneath mature trees dramatically improved their survival, suggesting these fungal relationships were essential for tree health. This observation challenged the prevailing "free-to-grow" forestry policy that mandated removing native plants considered competitors to commercially valuable conifers. Working with the British Columbia Forest Service, Simard designed experiments to test whether trees like paper birch, traditionally eliminated as "weeds," might actually benefit neighboring conifers like Douglas fir. Her research revealed that rather than competing, these species often supported each other through underground connections, sharing resources and information in ways that enhanced the survival of both. This finding directly contradicted forestry practices focused on eliminating competition and maximizing timber yield through monocultures. The most revolutionary insight came when Simard used radioactive carbon isotopes to track the movement of nutrients between trees. By labeling birch trees with carbon-14 and nearby Douglas fir with carbon-13, she discovered that these trees were exchanging carbon through underground fungal networks. This groundbreaking finding, published in Nature in 1997, demonstrated that trees weren't just competing but cooperating through mycorrhizal fungi that connected their roots. These fungi formed vast underground networks—later dubbed the "wood-wide web"—through which trees shared resources and information, fundamentally challenging the competitive model that had dominated forestry for decades. This early research in the 1980s and early 1990s set the stage for a profound reimagining of forest ecosystems as cooperative communities rather than battlegrounds of competition. It also established a pattern that would define Simard's career: observations in the field that contradicted conventional wisdom, followed by carefully designed experiments that revealed the complex relationships supporting forest health. These discoveries would eventually transform scientific understanding of forest ecology and offer new approaches to forest management based on maintaining connectivity rather than maximizing individual tree growth.

Chapter 2: The Wood-Wide Web: Mapping Underground Connections

By the mid-1990s, scientists began uncovering the vast underground networks that connect trees in forest ecosystems. These networks, formed by mycorrhizal fungi that colonize tree roots, create what was eventually dubbed the "wood-wide web"—an intricate system of connections through which trees share resources and information. The scale of this underground infrastructure is staggering: a single gram of forest soil can contain up to 200 meters of fungal mycelium, and these fungal threads can extend for many kilometers within a single hectare of forest. The fundamental relationship underlying these networks is mutualistic symbiosis. Mycorrhizal fungi colonize tree roots, forming specialized structures that allow for nutrient exchange. The trees provide the fungi with carbohydrates produced through photosynthesis—up to 30% of the sugars they produce may go to their fungal partners. In return, the fungi extend their thread-like hyphae far into the soil, accessing water and nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen that would otherwise remain out of reach for tree roots. This partnership dramatically increases the effective absorptive surface area of tree root systems, sometimes by as much as 700 times. The revolutionary discovery came when researchers realized these fungi weren't just connecting individual trees to soil resources—they were connecting trees to each other. Using isotope tracing techniques, Simard demonstrated that carbon moved between different tree species through their shared mycorrhizal networks. When paper birch trees were exposed to radioactive CO₂, the carbon they fixed during photosynthesis later appeared in neighboring Douglas fir trees, proving that resources were being transferred underground. Even more surprisingly, the flow changed direction seasonally: birch trees supported fir trees during summer when birch had abundant leaves for photosynthesis, while fir trees, which retain their needles year-round, supported birch during winter dormancy. The architecture of these networks resembles the structure of neural networks or the internet, with hub trees (particularly older, larger trees) connected to dozens of younger trees through the fungal web. Network scientists analyzing these patterns found they exhibited properties of "scale-free networks," with a few highly connected hubs and many less-connected nodes. This structure allows for efficient resource distribution throughout the forest community and creates resilience—if some connections are broken, the network can still function through alternative pathways. Different fungal species form different types of networks, with some specialized for rapid local communication and others for long-distance transport, creating a sophisticated multi-layered infrastructure. These mycorrhizal networks serve not just as conduits for resource sharing but also as communication channels. When trees are attacked by insects or pathogens, they send chemical warning signals through the fungal networks that trigger defense responses in neighboring trees. In one experiment, Douglas fir trees infested with budworms were shown to transmit signals to ponderosa pine trees connected through mycorrhizal networks, allowing the pines to preemptively increase their defense enzyme production before being attacked themselves. This demonstrated that trees could "eavesdrop" on their neighbors' distress signals and prepare accordingly—a sophisticated form of communication previously unrecognized in plant communities. The discovery of the wood-wide web transformed scientific understanding of forest ecology, revealing that cooperation and mutualism were as important as competition in shaping forest communities. It explained why diverse forests were often more productive and resilient than monocultures—the underground networks allowed for resource sharing that benefited the community as a whole. This understanding contradicted industrial forestry practices that treated trees as isolated crop plants and sought to eliminate "competing" vegetation. Instead, it suggested that maintaining the integrity of these underground networks was crucial for forest health and productivity, offering new approaches to sustainable forest management based on connectivity rather than competition.

Chapter 3: Mother Trees: Nurturing Elders of Forest Communities

At the heart of the forest's underground network stand the Mother Trees—the largest, oldest trees that serve as the central hubs of the mycorrhizal web. These ancient giants, some living for hundreds or even thousands of years, play a crucial role in forest ecology far beyond what scientists had previously understood. Through decades of field research, Simard discovered that these elder trees are connected to dozens of other trees through their expansive root systems and associated fungal networks, creating a biological internet that facilitates resource sharing and communication throughout the forest community. Mother Trees accumulate wisdom through centuries of existence, developing vast root systems and forming symbiotic relationships with thousands of species of fungi. Their size and age allow them to access resources unavailable to younger trees—their deep roots can reach water during droughts, and their extensive canopies capture sunlight even in dense forests. Rather than hoarding these resources, Mother Trees share them through the mycorrhizal network, particularly with trees of their own species and even more specifically with their own offspring. This nurturing behavior ensures the survival of the next generation and maintains the genetic legacy of the forest. The relationship between Mother Trees and younger trees is particularly vital during times of stress. When seedlings establish in the deep shade of the forest understory, they often struggle to photosynthesize enough to survive. Simard's research showed that Mother Trees recognize these struggling seedlings—especially their own kin—and transfer carbon, nitrogen, and water to them through the mycorrhizal network. This support system gives young trees a crucial boost during their vulnerable early years, increasing their survival rates by as much as four times compared to seedlings cut off from the network. The Mother Trees essentially subsidize their offspring until they can reach enough light to support themselves—a form of nurturing remarkably similar to how mammals care for their young. Perhaps most remarkably, Mother Trees appear to recognize their own offspring. In controlled experiments, Simard discovered that Mother Trees preferentially send more carbon and nutrients to seedlings that share their DNA compared to unrelated seedlings of the same species. This kin recognition, previously thought to exist only in animals, suggests a sophisticated ability for trees to distinguish self from non-self at the molecular level. The mechanism likely involves chemical signals transmitted through root exudates or fungal connections. This preferential treatment of kin ensures that Mother Trees' genes are passed on to the next generation, representing an evolutionary strategy for forest succession. As Mother Trees age and begin to die, they don't simply fall and decompose. Instead, they engage in a form of planned succession, increasing the resources they send to younger trees in their network. Simard's research showed that dying trees dump up to 40% of their carbon into the mycorrhizal network, much of which is transferred to neighboring trees, particularly their offspring. This "legacy effect" represents a form of intergenerational care that ensures the forest community continues to thrive even after individual trees have died. The dying Mother Tree essentially bequeaths its remaining resources to the next generation, ensuring continuity in the forest ecosystem. The importance of Mother Trees challenges conventional forestry practices that focus on harvesting the largest, oldest trees and replanting with evenly-aged monocultures. When Mother Trees are removed, the mycorrhizal network is severely disrupted, reducing the forest's ability to regenerate naturally and respond to stresses like drought or disease. Conservation of these keystone trees is crucial for maintaining forest resilience, especially in the face of climate change. By preserving Mother Trees during harvesting operations, foresters can maintain the underground infrastructure that supports forest regeneration and health, ensuring these complex ecosystems continue to thrive for generations to come.

Chapter 4: Forest Communication: Chemical Signals and Kin Recognition

The discovery that trees communicate with one another represents one of the most profound shifts in our understanding of forest ecosystems. Far from being silent and solitary organisms, trees engage in constant dialogue through an intricate language of chemical signals, electrical impulses, and resource exchanges. This communication occurs both above ground, through the release of volatile organic compounds into the air, and below ground, through vast networks of mycorrhizal fungi that connect trees at their roots. These fungal networks serve as the forest's information superhighway, transmitting chemical signals between trees with remarkable specificity and speed. One of the most striking examples of tree communication involves warning systems against threats. When trees are attacked by insects or pathogens, they produce specific chemical compounds that serve as defense mechanisms. Simultaneously, they send warning signals through the mycorrhizal network to neighboring trees, which then preemptively increase their own defense compounds before being attacked themselves. In one experiment, Douglas fir trees infested with budworms were shown to transmit signals to nearby ponderosa pines, causing the pines to increase their production of defensive enzymes within 24 hours. This communication gives the forest community time to prepare for incoming threats, significantly improving their collective survival chances against pests and diseases. Beyond simple warning systems, trees exhibit a sophisticated ability to recognize their relatives—a phenomenon known as kin recognition. Through careful experiments where seedlings were grown with either related or unrelated neighbors, Simard discovered that trees can distinguish their own kin from strangers of the same species. Mother Trees form more mycorrhizal connections with their offspring than with unrelated seedlings, and they send more carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients to these related individuals. This preferential treatment gives their offspring a significant advantage in establishment and growth, increasing their survival rates during stressful periods like drought. The mechanism behind this recognition likely involves chemical signatures in root exudates or signals transmitted through the shared fungal network. The implications of kin recognition extend to forest succession and regeneration patterns. When Mother Trees are left intact during partial harvesting, they can nurture the next generation of seedlings through the mycorrhizal network, facilitating forest recovery. In contrast, when clear-cutting removes all mature trees, this intergenerational support system is severed, making forest regeneration more difficult and less successful. The recognition that trees preferentially support their offspring challenges the view of forests as simply collections of competing individuals and suggests instead that they function more like families or communities with complex social structures. Communication in forests isn't limited to trees of the same species. Different tree species can warn each other about threats and share resources through mycorrhizal networks, creating complex interspecies relationships. For example, birch and fir trees in mixed forests exchange carbon seasonally, with birch supporting fir during summer when it has abundant leaves for photosynthesis, and fir supporting birch in winter when it retains its needles. This interspecies cooperation helps maintain forest diversity and resilience, as different species support each other through their complementary adaptations and resource acquisition strategies. The discovery of communication and kin recognition in forests has profound implications for forest management. Traditional forestry practices that treat trees as isolated crop plants fail to account for the complex social relationships that sustain forest ecosystems. By recognizing and preserving these communication networks—particularly by retaining Mother Trees during harvesting—foresters can work with rather than against the natural processes that support forest health and regeneration. This shift in perspective represents not just a scientific advancement but a fundamental reconsideration of our relationship with forests, acknowledging their complexity and interconnectedness in ways that align with many Indigenous understandings of forest ecosystems.

Chapter 5: Legacy Transfer: How Dying Trees Support Future Generations

The end of a tree's life represents not just a conclusion but a crucial transition in the forest ecosystem. Rather than simply decomposing and returning nutrients to the soil, dying trees actively participate in a sophisticated process of legacy transfer—deliberately passing their resources, energy, and even information to the next generation. This phenomenon, only recently understood by science, reveals how forests maintain continuity across generations and adapt to changing conditions over time. When trees begin to decline due to age, disease, or environmental stress, they initiate a remarkable process of resource redistribution. Simard's research using carbon isotope tracing revealed that dying trees can transfer up to 40% of their carbon to neighboring trees through the mycorrhizal network. This isn't a passive process of decay but an active reallocation of resources. As photosynthesis decreases in the dying tree, it begins to send its stored carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients into the fungal network, where they become available to younger trees connected to the same network. This transfer is particularly directed toward the dying tree's offspring, representing a form of parental care that extends beyond the tree's own lifespan. The legacy transfer process appears to be most pronounced when trees die gradually rather than suddenly. Trees infected with pathogens or experiencing drought stress often have months or years of decline during which they can redistribute their resources. During this period, they not only transfer carbon and nutrients but also appear to transmit information about the specific stresses they're experiencing. For instance, trees dying from drought or pathogen infection send chemical signals through the mycorrhizal network that trigger specific defense responses in receiving trees. This information transfer helps the next generation prepare for similar challenges, creating a form of adaptive memory within the forest community. Remarkably, the legacy transfer process shows clear evidence of kin recognition. Dying Mother Trees preferentially send resources to their own seedlings rather than unrelated individuals of the same species. In controlled experiments, seedlings related to a declining Mother Tree received significantly more carbon and showed better growth and survival than unrelated seedlings, even when connected to the same mycorrhizal network. This preferential treatment ensures that the Mother Tree's genetic legacy continues in the forest community, representing an evolutionary strategy that benefits both the individual's genetic line and the forest ecosystem as a whole. The legacy transfer process isn't limited to the immediate vicinity of the dying tree. Through the extensive mycorrhizal network, resources and signals from dying trees can travel to recipients meters or even tens of meters away. This long-distance transfer helps maintain forest continuity across space as well as time, allowing resources to flow to where they're most needed in the ecosystem. The network architecture, with older trees serving as hubs connected to many younger trees, facilitates this efficient redistribution of resources from dying individuals to the next generation. Understanding legacy transfer has profound implications for forest management, particularly in the context of climate change and increasing forest disturbances. When dying trees are salvage-logged after insect outbreaks, fires, or drought, their ability to transfer resources to the next generation is interrupted. By contrast, when these trees are allowed to complete their natural life cycle, they contribute to forest regeneration and resilience. This suggests that maintaining some standing dead trees and allowing natural succession processes to unfold may be crucial for forest adaptation to changing conditions. The legacy of dying trees represents not just the end of individual lives but a vital link in the continuous renewal of forest ecosystems—a process that has evolved over millions of years to ensure forests persist through changing conditions and disturbances.

Chapter 6: Climate Crisis: Forest Resilience Through Connection

Forests worldwide are facing unprecedented threats from climate change, transforming at rates far exceeding their natural adaptive capacity. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and increasing frequency of extreme weather events are pushing many forest ecosystems toward critical thresholds. In western North America, mountain pine beetle outbreaks have devastated millions of hectares of forest as warmer winters fail to kill beetle larvae, while in the tropics, drought and fire threaten rainforests previously considered fireproof. These rapid changes are occurring against a backdrop of forest fragmentation, biodiversity loss, and continued deforestation that further compromise forest resilience. The climate crisis affects forests at multiple levels, from individual tree physiology to ecosystem-wide processes. Trees under heat and drought stress become more vulnerable to insects and diseases as their defense systems weaken. Mycorrhizal networks, crucial for resource sharing and communication, can be disrupted when soil moisture falls below critical thresholds. As climate zones shift faster than trees can migrate naturally, many species face potential extinction in their current ranges. The interconnected nature of these threats creates feedback loops that can accelerate forest decline—for example, when drought-stressed trees become more susceptible to beetles, leading to widespread mortality that increases fire risk, which in turn releases more carbon and exacerbates climate change. Simard's research on mycorrhizal networks offers crucial insights into how forests might adapt to these challenges. The underground connections between trees facilitate resource sharing that can help buffer individual trees against stress. During drought, for instance, deep-rooted trees can access groundwater and share it with shallow-rooted neighbors through the mycorrhizal network. This cooperative strategy helps maintain forest function even as conditions deteriorate. Similarly, when some trees are damaged by insects or storms, they can send warning signals and resources to neighbors, helping the forest community respond collectively to threats. These natural adaptation mechanisms suggest that maintaining forest connectivity and diversity is crucial for climate resilience. Mother Trees play a particularly important role in forest adaptation to climate change. Their extensive root systems, accumulated resources, and central position in mycorrhizal networks make them keystone structures for forest resilience. When younger trees struggle during drought or heat waves, Mother Trees can support them with water and nutrients through the underground network. As climate conditions shift, Mother Trees also facilitate the establishment of seedlings better adapted to new conditions. Their genetic diversity, accumulated through centuries of pollination events, provides a reservoir of adaptive traits that can be expressed in their offspring. By nurturing genetically diverse seedlings, Mother Trees help forests adapt to changing conditions over generations. Traditional forestry practices focused on maximizing timber yield often work against these natural resilience mechanisms. Clear-cutting removes Mother Trees and disrupts mycorrhizal networks, while monoculture plantations lack the genetic and species diversity needed for adaptation. In contrast, forest management approaches that maintain structural complexity, preserve Mother Trees, and promote diversity can enhance resilience to climate change. Selective harvesting that leaves some mature trees intact, mixed-species plantings, and longer rotation periods between harvests all help preserve the underground connections and diversity that forests need to adapt. Indigenous forest management practices offer valuable models for climate resilience. Many Indigenous communities have managed forests sustainably for thousands of years using approaches that maintain diversity and ecological relationships. These include selective harvesting, controlled burning to reduce fuel loads and stimulate regeneration, and maintaining mixed-species forests that mimic natural succession patterns. By integrating this traditional ecological knowledge with scientific understanding of mycorrhizal networks and forest ecology, new approaches to climate-adaptive forestry are emerging that work with rather than against natural forest processes.

Chapter 7: Indigenous Wisdom: Traditional Knowledge Meets Modern Science

Long before scientific instruments detected the underground networks connecting trees, Indigenous peoples across the world recognized forests as interconnected communities where all elements exist in relationship. This understanding, developed through millennia of close observation and interaction with forest ecosystems, is embedded in Indigenous languages, stories, and land management practices. Many Indigenous cultures describe trees as people or relatives rather than resources, acknowledging their sentience and agency within the ecosystem. The Salish concept of "nə́c̓aʔmat ct" ("we are one") or the Secwepemc principle of "k̓wseltktnews" ("we are all related") express a worldview where humans are part of, not separate from, the web of relationships that constitute the forest. This relational understanding manifested in sophisticated forest management practices that maintained forest health while providing for human needs. The Heiltsuk people of coastal British Columbia constructed stone tidal traps that allowed them to harvest salmon sustainably while ensuring enough fish returned upstream to spawn. The salmon remains were then ritually returned to the forest, where their nutrients nourished the trees and plants. This practice recognized the circular relationship between forests and salmon—healthy forests provide shade and clean water for salmon streams, while salmon provide essential nutrients to forest ecosystems. Similar cycles of reciprocity guided the harvesting of cedar bark, medicinal plants, and other forest products, with protocols ensuring that taking was balanced with giving back. The contrast between this Indigenous approach and industrial forestry practices reveals fundamentally different ways of knowing and relating to forests. Where Western science historically viewed forests through a reductionist lens—breaking them down into separate components like timber, wildlife, and water—Indigenous knowledge systems recognized the inseparability of these elements. Where industrial forestry sought to maximize extraction by simplifying forest ecosystems into manageable plantations, Indigenous management worked with forest complexity, often enhancing biodiversity through practices like controlled burning that created habitat mosaics. These differences weren't merely cultural but reflected distinct epistemologies—ways of knowing the world—with profound implications for how forests were treated. Simard's discoveries about mycorrhizal networks and Mother Trees have created a scientific framework that validates many aspects of Indigenous forest knowledge. The scientific confirmation that trees communicate, share resources, and recognize kin aligns with Indigenous teachings about the sentience and interconnectedness of forest beings. The finding that forests function as cooperative communities rather than collections of competing individuals resonates with Indigenous understandings of mutual responsibility and reciprocity in nature. This convergence offers powerful opportunities for what some call "two-eyed seeing"—bringing together Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge systems to create more holistic approaches to forest stewardship. Collaboration between Indigenous knowledge holders and forest scientists is yielding promising approaches to contemporary challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. In the Pacific Northwest, Indigenous communities are restoring traditional practices like controlled burning to reduce wildfire risk and enhance forest resilience. In the Amazon, Indigenous territorial management has proven more effective at preventing deforestation than conventional protected areas. These successes demonstrate how Indigenous knowledge, with its emphasis on relationship and reciprocity, offers crucial wisdom for sustainable forest management in the Anthropocene. The recognition of Indigenous forest knowledge represents not just a scientific advancement but a step toward addressing historical injustices. For centuries, colonial powers dismissed Indigenous knowledge as primitive or superstitious while appropriating Indigenous lands and disrupting traditional management systems. The resulting forest degradation—from clear-cutting old growth to suppressing natural fire regimes—has compromised forest health across North America and beyond. Acknowledging the validity of Indigenous forest knowledge is part of a broader movement toward reconciliation and decolonization, recognizing that Indigenous peoples have been sophisticated stewards of forest ecosystems for thousands of years before European contact.

Summary

The journey through forest ecosystems revealed in this exploration fundamentally transforms our understanding of trees from solitary competitors to members of complex, communicative communities. The discovery of the mycorrhizal network—the "wood-wide web"—illuminates how forests function as integrated systems where resources, information, and support flow between trees through fungal connections. At the center of these networks stand the Mother Trees, elder giants that recognize and nurture their offspring, share resources with neighbors in need, and even transfer their legacy to the next generation as they die. This underground social network enables forests to respond collectively to threats, adapt to changing conditions, and maintain resilience through disturbances—capabilities that emerge not from individual trees but from their interconnections. This deeper understanding of forest intelligence and communication carries profound implications for how humans interact with forest ecosystems in an era of unprecedented environmental change. Rather than managing forests as timber factories where competition drives productivity, we must recognize them as complex adaptive systems where cooperation and communication are essential to health and resilience. This means preserving Mother Trees during harvesting to maintain the underground infrastructure, protecting old-growth forests with their established networks, and promoting diversity rather than monocultures. It also means acknowledging the wisdom of Indigenous forest knowledge that recognized these relationships long before scientific instruments could detect them. By working with rather than against the natural connections that sustain forests, we can help these vital ecosystems—and the countless species that depend on them, including ourselves—navigate the challenges of climate change, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity loss that threaten our shared future on this planet.

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Suzanne Simard

She is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; and has been hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.

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