Introduction
What is the essence of a tree? How does a blade of grass grow? What
do we really understand of the internal events and forces
responsible for their upward thrust towards the heavens, and on
what conditions do these energies depend? Where do they come from and
how do they interact? What inhibits their proper interaction, and what
enhances it? As the pages in this book unfold the reader will not only come to
appreciate the immense contribution to humanity of Viktor Schauberger's
life-work, but also that humanity must now seize upon his enlightened,
penetrating perception of the energetic phenomena underlying physical
manifestation and apply them to safeguard its future. Through his deep
understanding of the energies responsible for all organic growth and
development, his writings in this volume focus on those domains of Nature
which are at this time in the greatest need of massive rehabilitative
intervention.

These are the world's rapidly dwindling forests and the vast expanses of
arable land, today increasingly threatened by drought, desertification, fire and
flood. This wholesale eradication of the Earth's lungs simply cannot continue.
Present systems of land and forest management are largely responsible for the
present climatic instability. Mechanistic methods of regeneration and
production, which have no truly long-term view and are wholly profit oriented,
give no consideration either to the forest's true function or to a living soil's
continuing ability to sustain future generations. As has already become
evident, the current practice of over-clearing of forest for agriculture and
subsequent tillage leads to soil erosion, desertification, mineral impoverishment
and developing salination. The inadequacies in the management, or even the
actual mismanagement, of the world's stocks of these important resources
have now reached a point where the problems of providing an equitable and
adequate supply of food to an expanding global population appear almost
insuperable. Despite the fertiliser and pesticide industry's extravagant claims,
it is becoming more and more apparent that these methods are no longer
effective and are providing both timber and food of increasingly inferior
quality. It is therefore time to consider fresh approaches.

What is necessary is to employ many more people in developing and
applying methods for improving food quality. With higher-quality food,