Treekeepers
The Race for a Forested Future
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Silver medalist, Nautilus Book Awards
“A frank, probing, but ultimately hopeful book” (Elizabeth Kolbert) that shows how the path from climate change to a habitable future winds through the world’s forests
In recent years, planting a tree has become a catchall to represent “doing something good for the planet.” Many companies commit to planting a tree with every purchase. But who plants those trees and where? Will they flourish and offer the benefits that people expect? Can all the individual efforts around the world help remedy the ever-looming climate crisis?
In Treekeepers, Lauren E. Oakes takes us on a poetic and practical journey from the Scottish Highlands to the Panamanian jungle to meet the scientists, innovators, and local citizens who each offer part of the answer. Their work isn’t just about planting lots of trees, but also about understanding what it takes to grow or regrow a forest and to protect what remains. Throughout, Oakes shows the complex roles of forests in the fight against climate change, and of the people who are giving trees a chance with hope for our mutual survival.
Timely, meticulously reported, and ultimately optimistic, Treekeepers teaches us how to live with a sense of urgency in our warming world, to find beauty in the present for ourselves and our children, and to take action big or small.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this sturdy report, conservation scientist Oakes (In Search of the Canary Tree) studies how ecologists use trees to fight climate change. She weaves science on the benefits of tree-lined city streets (neighborhoods with more tree coverage use less air conditioning and enjoy higher air quality) into her account of attending a Seattle urban forestry conference, and she discusses how Canada's Ministry of Forests is helping trees "migrate" by planting seedlings north of their traditional ranges in the anticipation that their new environs will warm enough in the coming decades to resemble the trees' historical habitats. Reforestation efforts must focus on restoring indigenous species, Oakes contends, lamenting how well-meaning initiatives that planted non-native trees gave rise to forests with less biodiversity. Oakes also warns that planting trees can't offset current levels of carbon emissions and suggests that while forests may help contain carbon that's already been released, reductions in fossil fuel use are still necessary to stem climate change. The author blends first-person reporting and ecology to winning effect, and her recognition that "planting trees isn't a silver bullet" puts the strategy in perspective. Readers will come away with a comprehensive understanding of what trees can and can't do for the environment. Photos.
