For Special Branch artists, activists and academics share their deep and personal connection to trees. Author, art historian and curator Janine Burke, reads an excerpt from her most recent book, My forests: travels with trees, published by Melbourne University Publishing (MUP). Marc Parlange, Provost and Senior Vice-President of Monash University, discusses the ways in which his academic research has intersected with trees across various sites in France, Burkina Faso and Vancouver. Associate Professor Haripriya Rangan, School of Geography, University of Melbourne and Pat Lowe, environmentalist and activist, share with us a convivial conversation about their shared fascination with the charismatic boab tree and theorise about how the boab found its way to the Kimberley region of northwest Australia. Guests: Dr Janine Burke, author, art historian and curator Pat Lowe, environmentalist and activist Associate Professor Haripriya Rangan, School of Geography, University of Melbourne Host: Kate Barber Links: Janine Burke, My Forests: travels with trees, MUP, May 2021. Pat Lowe, 'Falling in Love with Jimmy Pike', Conversations with Richard Fidler, Sarah Kanowski, August 2018, ABC Radio. Haripriya Rangan's academic work on forests and regional change. Haripriya Rangan, 'Iconic boab trees trace journeys of ancient Aboriginal people', April 2015, The Conversation. Haripriya Rangan, Of Myths and Movements: Rewriting Chipko into Indian History, VERSO, 2000. 'The Chipko Movement': Haripriya Rangan, Sharachchandra Lele, Sunandita Mehrotra, Sunderlal Bahuguna, The Nagrik Podcast, Spotify, September 2020.