The Treeline
The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
A ground-breaking and beautifully written investigation into the Arctic Treeline with an urgent environmental message.
'Evocative, wise and unflinching' Jay Griffiths, author of Wild
The Arctic treeline is the frontline of climate change, where the trees have been creeping towards the pole for fifty years already.
Scientists are only just beginning to understand the astonishing significance of these northern forests for all life on Earth. At the treeline, Rawlence witnesses the accelerating impact of climate change and the devastating legacies of colonialism and capitalism. But he also finds reasons for hope. Humans are creatures of the forest; we have always evolved with trees and The Treeline asks us where our co-evolution might take us next.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES CROPPER WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
'A moving, thoughtful, deeply reported elegy for our vanishing world and a map of the one to come' Nathaniel Rich, author of Losing Earth
'A lyrical and passionate book... The Treeline is a sobering, powerful account of how trees might just save the world, as long as we are sensible enough to let them' Mail on Sunday
'Ben Rawlence circumnavigates the very top of the globe - returning with a warning, in this enthralling and wonderfully written book' Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rawlence (City of Thorns), founder of Black Mountains College, in Wales, explores the boreal forests along Earth's shifting treeline in this eloquent account. Because of climate change, trees are migrating north, though "they shouldn't be," Rawlence writes, and to find out more about why, he travels across Canada, Siberia, Norway, Greenland, and Alaska to speak with ecologists and naturalists. He visits Sami reindeer herders in Norway who want the government to stop birch trees from encroaching on the tundra, because they disturb the lichen that reindeer feed on; treks over sea ice on Russia's Taimyr Peninsula to meet with Nganasan families who call a "cryolithic larch forest" home; and describes in exquisite detail some of the world's hardiest trees—Alaska's spruce, Canada's balsam poplar, Siberia's larch, Norway's downy birch, and Greenland's mountain ash, which "disconnected from other populations... kept its own time, evolving to suit its new habitat." Rawlence's research leads him to conclude that change is inevitable, and every person—and every tree—must adapt to survive. His awe at the beauty and power of trees is moving: "Ancient trees are a source of wonder." he writes. Nature lovers and travelers alike will find this a lovely paean to a rapidly changing landscape.
