by Ágnes Virág
Dr. Ágnes Virág is an art historian and communication expert. She is an Assistant Professor and teaches Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts and Art Theory and at the Institute of Media and Design at the Eszterházy Károly Catholic University of Eger. She also teaches Digital and Visual Communication at the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Debrecen. Her research area focuses on visual political communication in political art (e.g., in political cartoons, on posters, on news websites) by highlighting such concepts as democracy, parliament, body policy, and symbolic activities. She applies qualitative and quantitative corpus research and discourse analytical methods through the prism of conceptual metaphor and metonymy theory. Her publications appear in international journals (Intersections: East European Journal of Society and Politics, Central European Journal of Communication) and in special thematic volumes (International Discourses of Authoritarian Populism: Varieties and Approaches, Cognitive Linguistic Studies: Visual Metaphors, Reflections on Emotions, Populism and Polarisation).
At first it may seem that planting trees serves the environment regardless of party or political affiliation, but this procedure has not been an innocent act of nature conservation for a long time. As a striking example, Boehi (2015, p.71) humorously cites Margaret Thatcher’s case who participated in a 10-minute tree-planting procedure between a 50-minute TV-interview and an 80-minute lunch in Canberra, Australia. In the case of trees planted by politicians, suddenly everything becomes symbolic: who plants with whom, when, where, what species, and how. It is not even a coincidence what happens to the tree years later. Virtual tree plantings that can never be fulfilled, which are increasingly common today, are usually just promises of an ongoing political campaign.
Introduction
In the era of new plant ethics, plant rights, and plant philosophies, studies on the relationship between the environmental symbolism and politics are still scarce (Cloke & Jones, 2020; Boehi, 2015; Cohen, 1999; Lester, 1979). This op-ed investigates this relationship specifically in Hungary through the project of tree planting including afforestation and urban greening. The question is why do we need a politician to participate in such events? How does their presence reframe a seemingly innocent project that is originally intended to protect the environment?
Why are our politicians so tirelessly planting trees? Do they want to create a better world, re-create the idea of the lost Eden, or do they have other purposes?
Among the most common political promises, we can envision the possibility of a healthier, safer, and more burden-free life with a better healthcare system, job creation, and tax cuts which evokes the state of Paradise. Planting a tree can be the smallest symbolic step in restoring this perfect microcosm. European art and cultural history have a long tradition of linking gardens and tree planting to a good or even perfect place – to Paradise. In the book Gardens in Art (ed. by Impelluso, 2005, p. 344), the idea of the utopic Garden of the Golden Age (Ovid) is described as a place separated from the world and suspended in time, where men used to live like gods, in peace, and they were always young and healthy, and death came while they were sleeping when Zeus transformed them into good demons. The Garden of Paradise (Impelluso, 2005, p. 297) is somewhat similar, still the archetype of perfection – the garden of eternity – of the beginning and end of time when man lived in direct contact with the divine. It was a symbolic place of primordial innocence and the loss of man’s original purity. When it comes to political activities (e.g., the large-scale afforestation promises of campaign periods), tree planting promises the return to paradise ̶ through labor ̶ via a manipulation of nature (and society) (…) a nostalgia for a perfect past (Cohen, 1999, p. 425) in addition, tree planting can also demonstrate more powerfully than any other ceremony the imagination of rooting and growth, a strong symbol of belief in the future. (Boehi, 2015, p. 72)
Since tree planting is quite a popular official political event in Hungary as well, a pilot study was conducted with the aim of answering two questions: What are the most important political or symbolic messages behind tree planting? What biological or environmentally friendly expressions can be detected related to the act of tree planting?
Using the Google search engine, with the application of the keyword ‘politician planting tree’ (in Hungarian ‘politikus fát ültet’) forty-five relevant articles popped up mostly from Hungarian news sites. With the help of focused reading and discourse analytical approaches, literal and symbolic expressions were detected (relevant to these questions). As for the corpus, the hits were from 2010 to 2024, however, 38% of the total hits were published in 2024. A significant part of the articles was linked to various Hungarian political parties – the Christian Democratic Party (KDNP) (36%) and the Federation of Young Democrats – Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz-MPSz), the governing party in Hungary (24%), and besides, civil organizations (9%), companies (4%), Dialogue – The Greens’ Party (Párbeszéd) (4%), Momentum (3%) were also mentioned, while in 20% of the articles clear political preferences could not be indicated (e.g., the politician was independent).
2 Political and Symbolic Messages Beyond Tree Planting
Based on qualitative text analyses, three conceptual frames imbued with ideological content emerged from these discourses: the first, namely that tree planting was a Christian activity for survival was promoted by KDNP. The second frame so that tree planting is a family event for child birth was more emphasized by Fidesz. Within the third frame tree planting was transformed into a good occasion for a national Hungarian achievement in an international competition, in short, tree planting was a national issue for the first place in Europe. The last idea belonged to the civil community of 10M Trees. These three conceptual frames will be described in the following paragraphs.
2.1 Tree Planting Is a Christian Activity for Survival
KDNP is a right-wing party that has governed in alliance with Fidesz since 2010. Along with Christian principles, the main agenda of the party includes a ban on same-sex marriage and abortion; moreover, at the party’s initiative the model of the nuclear family was fixed in the Basic Law. The party’s novel program the so called Let’s Plant So We Can Live (2024), also promoted as ‘the largest afforestation program in Hungary’s modern history’ was preceded by political initiatives such as the Country and Settlement Afforestation Programs including the Forest of Newborns Program (started in 2019 and in 2020).
The most solid conceptual frame is when Tree planting is a Christian activity for survival by which the politician-planter repeatedly expresses the main goals of the KDNP’s program.
According to these repetitions, long-term goals is a must for survival, and tree planting itself is an encouraging active action; it raises awareness and builds community (mobilizes people). In this frame, the activity of tree planting is linked to Christian views, especially to the idea of the Care for Creation (Pope Francis) that means the protection and maintenance of the created world.
In a broader context, the planter invests in the future and protects the Earth to reach a safe and prosperous future. By taking care of the future, the planter becomes morally good: a charitable person. This program aims to preserve the environment and to pass the beauty of nature on to the next generations; thus, it intends to make it pleasurable to live in this country. Finally, all these actions contribute to the salvation of humanity and peace-making as Christ’s cross and Noah’s Ark were made of wood.
In this ideological context, it is common to emphasize that all these ideas contradict green ideologies and leftist or liberal attitudes which are considered anti-human because they discourage people from having children as they claim that the planet is already overpopulated. This type of juxtaposition simplifies and generalizes; thus, it demoralizes the greens, and it essentially claims that those ideologies protect the environment in a selfish manner. This approach creates a mutually exclusive distinction between the sides, rendering them simply good and bad where KDNP represents the good side.
The type of the tree chosen, the timing, and the location of planting are highly symbolic precisely for this reason. On the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, September 1 (Teremtésvédelmi nap), fruit trees are planted near a nursery, an elementary school, or in a parish yard supporting the idea that generations are developing just like fruit trees where fruit represent the valuable result of a process.
2.2 Tree Planting Is a Family Event for Childbirth
Fidesz is a right-wing, national conservative party that has governed Hungary in alliance with KDNP for the past fourteen years. The party’s narrative is similarly to the previously outlined one but also differs in some points. In 2020, prime minister Viktor Orbán announced that ‘we will plant 10 trees after every baby is born’.
This agenda is part of the government program called Climate and Nature Conservation Action Plan. Family politics (i.a., Herke, 2024; Nova, 2019) is apparently closely related to the topic of tree planting.
The party has been trying to increase the birth rate with a number of measures for years (for example, with special credit conditions so called Babaváró provided only for promised childbirth, by making insemination and IVF treatments free of charge). All of these measures are only available for married couples (single people, same-sex couples, even the ones who widowed during pregnancy are excluded). Despite all this, according to statistics, the population has been constantly decreasing since 2000, and the results of state-owned infertility centers show a worsening trend in terms of the success of live birth from artificial insemination.
At such tree planting events, family members plant trees together, and according to one of the tree planters, it is ‘for the joy of the arrival of angels’, namely the celebration of newborn babies. Politicians acting as tree planters repeatedly cited ideas of families, future generations, newborn babies, time spent together and joy in their speeches. Sometimes other general ecological goals were added (e.g., the improvement of public spaces, the microclimate and air quality, or the implementation of the afforestation program in accordance with EU regulations).
In general, planting a birth tree is a long-standing tradition in many cultures (e.g., Rival, 2020, 19981), but overemphasizing it and making it such a prominent part of the ecological program can undoubtedly be hurtful to those who lost their children, cannot have children, or do not want to have children , but love and protect nature.
Figure 1 Poster promoting Forest of Newborns Program, 2020
2.3 Tree Planting Is a National Issue for First Place in Europe
The third dominant framework was promoted by a civil association 10M Trees, which encourages people to plant trees – one person at least one tree – it also provides online manuals, collaborates with companies and professionals, and operates more than 160 communities in Hungary in order to increase the population’s ecological awareness. However, on April 22, 2024 – Earth Day –, the 10M Trees introduced the National Tree Planting Day (the first Saturday of March). Similar initiatives are known worldwide since the 16th century, such as Arbor Day in the Czech Republic (Oct 20, 2024), in Germany (Apr 24, 2024), in the Netherlands (third Wednesday of March), the National Tree (Planting) Day in Canada (Sept 25- 28, 2024), in Australia (July 28, 2024), or in Kenya (May 10, 2024), and the National Tree Week in the UK (Nov 23 to Dec 1 in 2024). What is new about the 10M Trees’ call?
there is no left- and right-wing climate crisis, heatstroke, drought, and desertification. (…) Let’s prove in a single day that Hungary is the greenest country in Europe.
What makes the Hungarian NGO’s call political is the concept of a European competition and the potential first place for Hungary. The association emphasizes that significant results can be achieved by this small but coordinated action.
Similarly to other national strategies supported by the government (e.g., National Forestry Strategy, Hungarian National Beekeeping Program), 10M Trees symbolically elevates tree planting to a national issue, and what is more, it is communicated as if it were suitable for distinguishing Hungary in the competition of EU member states.
The aim of the association sounds good and inspiring, but it is completely unrealistic, given that only 22.1% of Hungary is covered by forests that ranks the country as the 22nd in forest coverage in Europe (where Arbor Day has been around for decades).
It is not the first time that a country wants to become globally significant by planting trees (Cohen, 1999, pp. 430-433). During political events (e.g., in campaign period), citizens are used to being misled, but in the case of an NGO this communication strategy can be dangerous, as it can call into question the credibility of their work. As 10M Trees program works with various experts in environmental protection and sustainability, and professionalism and factuality are expected during their campaigns and from their presentations. Additionally, the program degrades tree planting to a one-time event, even though on other forums it is advertised to mean responsibility and additional care.
Tree planting does not mean half an hour of work to plant a tree. Green areas cannot be increased fast. This unfortunate campaigning may even call into question the fight against cutting down old trees. Furthermore, the EU has its New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 according to which member states will plant 3 billion trees by 2030. It means that countries receive financial support for tree planting – and other countries will obviously also plant many more trees in the near future. Presumably those governments (e.g., the Sweden, Finland, or Slovenia) for which environmental protection was important in the past will participate more actively in the program and, for the purpose, they will provide greater supervision over EU funds as well (Cozma et al., 2024, p. 9., Fig. 6).
3 How Democratic Is Planting Trees?
From the above overview, we can see that the topic of tree plantings evokes strong political associations, and news about tree planting are often connected to political actors planting trees within a festive framework and in front of a larger public. The question arises as to how much the politician-planters use these opportunities for knowledge transfer about the environment. The dissemination of knowledge was studied by the analysis of biological and environmentally friendly expressions appearing in the news.
All in all, among these expressions, the protection of pollinators and biodiversity, the increasing the population of forest birds, the mitigation of climate change and natural disasters, the maintenance of urban green areas, Stockholm Tree Pits, the construction of climate groves and climate islands, planting protective forests around the cities, and the introduction of extensive educational programs are mentioned. It can be observed that these expressions are mostly present in negative news related to cases of suspected corruption (e.g., overpriced tree plantings) linked to municipalities with government party leadership in the capital. Factual data (no. of tree plantings with specific data) are cited to point out the failure to keep political campaign promises (e.g., Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest who is also member of the Dialogue – The Greens’ Party), or in the introduction of a new bill (a proposal presented by Momentum during the local government election campaign). When specific data on environmental issues is included in political news of tree planting, it is used by the parties (regardless of whether it is leftist or rightist) to discredit the opposing party or to sway voters.
Tree planting does not emerge as a real environmental protection issue but remains a political tool. Overall, in the Hungarian news investigated, tree planting is presented as a political act, which is a Christian or family political matter, a national interest in the competition of EU member states, while ecological issues, or even concrete horticultural knowledge are pushed into the background.
What can democracy mean in terms of tree planting? If we interpret it as an active civil participation in shaping nature in a positive direction (planting, maintaining, and protecting according to the instructions of the experts) then civilians fade into the background and become invisible as soon as the concrete conceptual frameworks appear, and party politics and related ideological views come into force. It can also be illustrated by the photos and videos accompanying the articles. In 67% of the cases, one to eight men (politicians and workers) are planting a single tree while no other participants are visible. Moreover, several times it seems as if the event is a press conference because only photographers and politicians are visible in the pictures. In 29% of the cases, women, men and even children can be seen, which suggests that it is a community event. It was always the case when the article was about the ideas of the 10M Trees, but some articles illustrated Momentum’s plans as well as some tree plantings by KDNP and Fidesz in this way. In addition, 4% of the articles presented the complex method of tree planting itself. However, overall, we see that when a politician plants a tree, it is a showcase event, people’s participation (if there is any) goes unnoticed.
In Hungary, civil engagement in environmentalist movements (Buzogány, 2022; Éltető & Ricz, 2024; Mikecz, 2017) are mostly aimed at protection. In recent years, such cases were river cleaning, demonstrations against deforestation, cutting down entire rows of trees in order to build bicycle paths, and there were protests against the constructions of a mobile dam on the Danube in Budapest, and against the privatization of plots near Lake Balaton and on the Danube. Those who actively participate in environmental movements usually protect their own living environment, and in their petitions, they demand a dialogue, the presentation of relevant environmental studies, and the protection of common property. In each tree planting, the media appearance of a given politician is realized, and we can rehearse a party program, but all of this may not have any real significance in terms of the relationship between civilians and the environment when it comes to actions.
Acknowledgement
My thanks go to Alexandra Medzibrodszky and Anubha Anushree for their valuable comments and critical questions that helped my work to improve the manuscript. I would like to thank Rita DiFiore-Czipczer for proofreading.
This op-ed is part of the Utopia and Democracy series. Op-eds in this series draw on presentations delivered at the conference held under the same title on July 3 to 5, 2024, which was organized by the Utopian Studies Society/Europe and hosted by Zsolt Czigányik, Iva Dimovska, and Daryna Koryagina – members of the Democracy in East Central European Utopianism research group, CEU Democracy Institute – at Central European University’s Budapest campus.
