The Guardian of Harmony: The Asha Tree

Authors

Alexandra Renteria, St. Mary's UniversityFollow

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Digital Publisher

Digital Commons at St. Mary's University

Department

English Literature and Languages

Keywords

Digital Museum Exhibit, Fairy Tales, Climate Change, Curator talk, Illustrations, Audio, Video, Essay, Infographic, Desert Willow

LCSH Subject

Fairy Tales; Climate Change

Description

This student exhibit begins with a curator introduction by Renteria that provides an overview of their submission including an original climate change fairy tale, The Guardian of Harmony: The Asha Tree, highlighting the Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis), presented as both a written text and a recorded reading, along with a QR code that provides access to the audio version and an infographic that shares key information about the tree’s habitat, locations across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, environmental threats, and cultural and ecological significance.

The exhibit also features a social media post that promotes awareness and conservation of the Desert Willow and an artifact inspired by Little Red Riding Hood’s red hood that symbolizes Renteria’s experience bridging the rhetorical gap between fairy tales and climate change.

Finally, a persuasive essay, The Narrative Power of Storytelling: Using Fairy Tales to Discuss Climate Change Violence, encourages audiences to engage with climate change through narrative storytelling and emphasizes how fairy tales can foster dialogue about environmental violence and the protection of forests and the natural world.

Collection

Speak For the Trees!

Format

Multiple

Size

Varying

Medium

Multiple

Document Type

Collection

Disciplines

Fiction | Folklore | Sustainability

Recommended Citation

Renteria, Alexandra, "The Guardian of Harmony: The Asha Tree" (2026). Speak for the Trees!. 6.
https://commons.stmarytx.edu/fairytales2/6

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.