Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Readalikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by:
Rose Rankin
Buy This Book
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, Canada to Sweden to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes. Only the hardest 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.
1.
The Zombie Forest
Pinus sylvestris, Scots pine
GLEN LOYNE, SCOTLAND: 57° 04' 60' N
As the ice retreated to higher ground at the beginning of the current interglacial period, the boreal forest set off in pursuit. Plants that had not been seen on the islands of Britain for thousands of years began, gradually, to return. Ice persisted on the uplands of north Wales and the Highlands of Scotland, but in the valleys and the plains, lichens formed a crust on the exposed rocks. Then came mosses with their creeping fur, laying the ground for grasses and sedges first, soon to be followed by the pioneer shrubs of hazel, birch, willow, juniper and aspen. This boreal system worked its way north, across the land bridge where the English Channel now is, a sweeping tide of green on the heels of the ice, the cocktail of early seeds dispersed according to the natural cycles of wind, rain and the migratory patterns of animals, including humans.
Ten thousand years later, I follow. Pointing the ...
The Treeline is a moving meditation on what climate change truly means for ecosystems and their human inhabitants in a rapidly evolving, ecologically unique part of the world. Rawlence addresses the dislocations and disasters that will ensue, and indeed already have begun, but it isn't with hopeless fatalism. Instead, he ends with a call to action for humans to adapt and survive. Through scientific lessons, anthropological accounts and lyrical language, The Treeline is a valuable addition to the growing canon of climate change writing...continued
Full Review
(834 words).
(Reviewed by Rose Rankin).
In his book The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth, Ben Rawlence describes how global warming is altering northern ecosystems like the tundra of Siberia. As temperatures rise, the permafrost no longer lives up to its name; instead of staying permanently frozen, the ice within is melting. This causes the ground to collapse into sinkholes as the water drains away, or the soil turns to slush underground, as Siberian scientists are finding.
As it warms, the permafrost releases greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, that have been trapped in the ice for eons. This aggravates the warming that is causing the melting in the first place, since these gases trap more heat in the atmosphere and warm the ground...
More books by Ben Rawlence
If you liked The Treeline, try these:
by Helen Scales
Published 2022
"The oceans have always shaped human lives," writes marine biologist Helen Scales in her vibrant new book The Brilliant Abyss, but the surface and the very edges have so far mattered the most. "However, one way or another, the future ocean is the deep ocean."
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Published 2022
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity's transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it?
Win a signed copy of Where the Crawdads Sing
In celebration of the movie release on July 15, we have three signed copies to give away.
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.