«The Tree Factory», the first ecological novel of the 21st century.

Miguel Gillaranz's "The Tree Factory" is the first ecological novel of the 21st century; a book somewhere between fiction and essay.

Its protagonist, Clara, has a big dream in the form of a project, to plant a million trees, and in it she introduces some concepts of ecology such as climate change, the ecological footprint or green construction, mixing different genres of novel, but with a lot of content that goes beyond fiction. A denunciation of bad social, business and political habits, mixing fiction, tradition, social and environmental awareness.

The author of "The Tree Factory," Miguel Gillaranz, immersed himself in the forest for eight days to give the novel its final form. We don't know if it was there where he found inspiration, but surely Clara, the protagonist of the story, is not at all utopian.

 More than one timber company or even the public administration should take note: take advantage of the spaces behind the guardrails of toll roads, where there is a reserve of soil, normally inert, about 30 or 40 meters wide along the entire length of the road, where it would be very feasible to plant trees. In addition to enriching the landscape and promoting a positive environmental impact, it could be given different uses and functions. 

The author also focuses on one of the most important and problematic issues surrounding forests: fires. An interesting reflection on the paradox that there are many people, many sectors, who profit and gain benefits from a fire. What's more, a team earns more income the more days they work to extinguish a fire, when it should be the other way around. Rewarding prevention and not extinction, which would also mean stable work throughout the year (and not seasonal work like that associated with extinguishing fires in the summers mainly). Not to mention that other sectors could be energized and strengthened in parallel, such as the generation of clean energy through biomass.

The Tree Factory is a novel that promises to leave no one indifferent. Below is a recent interview with the author of “The Inhabited Forest.”