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Podcast: This Old Tree
Episode: On Defense: Estonia's Stadium Oak
Description: In the small Estonian town of Orissaare, football players dribble around a 150-year-old oak tree standing impossibly in the middle of their soccer field or "stadium." What seems like a quirky local oddity became a symbol of national pride when this tree won the 2015 European Tree of the Year, beating much larger countries like Hungary, Spain, and the UK.How did an unknown Estonian oak outcompete all of Europe? The answer involves brilliant PR, ancient folklore, a fierce independence forged by centuries of foreign invasion, and a profound connection to forests rooted in animism. The oak also...