"Originally published in Great Britain by Granta Books in 2021"--Title page verso. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Pt.1. Weather makers -- 1. Trees are cool : Stomata, Transpiration and a planet transformed -- 2. Flying rivers : Chasing the rain and mapping a new hydrology -- 3. Forests' breath : Sniffing the air and shooting the breeze -- 4. In tanguro : tipping points in soybean fields foreshadow crisis in the Amazon -- 5. Fires in the forest : Nature's way of starting over -- Pt.2. From paradise to plunder -- 6. Lost worlds : Pre-Columbian cities that gardened the rainforests -- 7. The woodchopper's ball : Post-Columbian pillage and roads to ruin -- 8. Logged out : Well, almost...three decades in Borneo -- 9. Consuming the forests : Logs of war and a new "green" plunder -- 10. No-man's-land : Cattle kingdoms and the tyranny of global commodities -- 11. Taking stock : Phantom forests and debunking forest demonology -- Pt.3. Rewilding -- 12. From "stumps and ashes" : America's forest renaissance -- 13. The strange regreening of Europe : Acid rain to a new green deal -- 14. Forest Transition : How more and more nations are restoring their forests -- 15. To plant or not to plant : When trees become part of the problem -- 16. Let them grow : Only nature can plant a trillion trees -- 17. Agroforests : Farmers as part of the solution -- Pt.4. Forest commons -- 18. Indigenous defenders : Why tribes do conservation better than conservationists -- 19. Community forests : A triumph of the commons -- 20. African landscapes : Taking back control.
Summary:
"Natural history and adventure travel collide in this powerful book about the decline and recovery of the world's forests--with a provocative argument for their survival. In A Trillion Trees, veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce takes readers on a whirlwind journey through some of the most spectacular forests around the world. Along the way, he charts the extraordinary pace of forest destruction, and explores why some are beginning to recover. With vivid, observant reporting, Pearce transports readers to the remote cloud forests of Ecuador, the swamps of Indonesia, the remains of a forest civilization in Nigeria, a mystifying mountain peak in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And he interviews the people who traditionally live and depend on these lands: Indigenous Amazonians, Nepalese hill dwellers, Kenyan farmers, and West African sawyers. They show him that forests are as much human landscapes as they are natural paradises. The lives of humans are now imprinted in forest ecology. At the heart of Pearce's investigation is a provocative argument: planting more trees isn't the answer to declining forests. If given room and left to their own devices, forests and the people who live in them will fight back to restore their own domain."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.