The use of the word chaat on the sign demonstrates the complexity and
significance of the tree ordination. Concepts of religion are being reinterpreted to
promote environmentalism at the same time the latter is linked through moral ties
with local and national political and economic issues. Throughout the ordination, and
the larger project of which it was a part, Phrakhru Pitak extended his traditional role
as spiritual and moral leader of lay villagers to embrace an activism which
necessitates political involvement. The same kind of role enlargement is recreated in
every project run by ecology monks, from tree ordinations and the establishment of
sacred community forests to tree-planting ceremonies and exorcisms or long-life
ceremonies at sites threatened by ecological destruction.