In the future, cemeteries are not filled with stone markers.  Instead, the resting place of the dead is marked by a tree and a bench with a brass plate bearing the words that were once carved upon headstones.  This process is called terramation, as opposed to cremation.  Cemeteries become cherished places to spend extended periods of time gathered as friends and family together beneath the swaying branches, or alone in peaceful solitude and remembrance.

This in turn creates forests inhabited by the spirits of the dead.  Those who bear sensitivity to such things claim to hear their voices whispering in the wind and catch glimpses of them out of the corner of their eye when they visit what come to be called memorial groves.

In this world, capitalist-and-human-induced ecological crisis threatens the trees’ existence, and they become animated by the souls of the people buried beneath them.  People visiting their deceased loved ones begin hearing their voices coming from the trees, especially when the wind blows.  People all over the world begin reporting hearing voices in the memorial groves, angry voices warning of danger and war if the humans do not stop destroying the Earth.

Strange incidents of trees dropping branches on people begin to occur, followed by reports of unearthly windstorms whipping trees into a frenzy when people are near, endangering their lives.  Eventually the trees themselves begin to move, their branches reaching out and striking people as they pass.  The trees seem to favor attacking those of a harmful mindset, such as the owners and employees of destructive corporations.  Trees are even witnessed defending victims of crime.

People divide into camps: those who want to heed the warnings and attacks of the trees and stop the activities damaging the Earth, and those responsible for those activities who want to declare war on the trees.  They begin a campaign of clear-cutting and burning the memorial groves.  The people become outraged and stage a worldwide uprising.

In response to this ecological war, the Earth itself and all of Her forces rise up against Her attackers.  The skies boil with storms, and a fierce wind blows around the world.  The ocean rises in fury.  All of the Earthly elements conspire together to directly attack the forces that threaten them, while curiously sparing innocent populations and anyone involved in the uprising.  Yet people are still suffering and beg the warring faction to stop, but they won’t.  Finally, they burn down the world’s oldest and largest memorial grove, enraging its residents’ descendants and loved ones.

In a final push in this War of the Elements, the atmosphere and the ground itself gather together to attack the leaders and forces of their enemy, and lightning pummels them from the sky in a light show the entire world can see and hear.  Earthquakes split the ground, swallowing headquarters and machinery.  When it is over, nothing of the enemy remains but smoke and ash.

The survivors rejoice in their victory, though there is much rebuilding to be done.  While the Earth’s elements were careful to spare as many of Her children and creations as possible, there is still casualty and damage.  In response, trees begin slowly walking out of the forests and parks and deliberately and carefully falling in front of damaged houses, sacrificing themselves for building material.

The skies cleared, the sea fell back, and the ground calmed, and the whispering voices of the trees turned peaceful, then quiet.  The world was rebuilt with a new philosophy of Earthly respect after having it demonstrated forcefully that people are not separate from it, as well as that the Earth itself is a living entity with a will of its own that demands respect for our own survival.  The memorial groves were replanted and became temples to the trees and the Earth and were declared legally sacred.  People planted sacred trees on their own properties, and the Temple of the Sacred Tree was founded with branches all over the world.   Special memorial groves were planted everywhere in honor and remembrance of all of the victims of The War of the Elements.

In the years that followed, technology was developed that enabled the creation of sturdy building materials and paper products that didn’t require wood.  As a result, timbering was banned worldwide and cutting down a tree for purposes other than safety and the health of the tree was made illegal with harsh penalties.  Even the harvesting of fallen trees was banned out of respect for their role in the forest’s cycle of life, and therefore the Earth’s and ours.

Humans were not denied the beauty of wood, though.  Forever after that, every now and then, usually in wintertime, an old tree would walk out of the forest and allow itself to fall safely in a public area.  As it walked slowly, people would stand out of the way in reverence, knowing it was going to its final resting place on behalf of the people.  Such trees became works of art rendered into sculptures and temples to hold a place of honor out of respect for them and in remembrance of the War so that people would not forget.

And so not only were the trees and the Earth saved, but the humans as well, allowing life to progress into the future unhindered.