The treeline : the last forest and the future of life on earth

Summary: "In the tradition of Elizabeth Kolbert and Barry Lopez, a powerful, poetic and deeply absorbing account of the "lung" at the top of the world. For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north. Ben Rawlence's The Treeline takes us along this critical frontier of our warming planet from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes. Only the hardiest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies our atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all and the noble Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family. It is a journey of wonder and awe at the incredible creativity and resilience of these species and the mysterious workings of the forest upon which we rely for the air we breathe. Blending reportage with the latest science, The Treeline is a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on earth"--

Record details

ISBN: 9781250270238
ISBN: 1250270235
ISBN: 9781250270245
Physical Description: print
306 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2022.
Copyright: ©2022

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-294) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Prologue. Taxus baccata, yew (Wales) -- The zombie forest. Pinus sylvestris, Scots pine (Scotland) -- Chasing reindeer. Betula pubescens, downy birch (Norway) -- The sleeping bear. Larix gmelinii, Dahurian larch (Russia) -- The frontier. Picea glauca/Picea mariana, white spruce/black spruce (Alaska) -- The forest in the sea. Populus balsamifera, balsam poplar (Canada) -- Last tango with ice. Sorbus groenlandica, Greenland mountain ash (Greenland) -- Epilogue. Thinking like a forest -- Glossary of trees.