The Journeys of Trees: 5 Takeaways

Trees cover about thirty percent of land on Earth. Their ability to enrich the soil and filter the air provides us not only food and clean water, but shelter and shade, as well as, amusement for those who dare to climb up them. We make fuel, furniture, paper, and many other products from their wood. We find rest from our everyday distractions when we walk amongst them, and through many myths and fairy tales we have come to see them as magical beings, as well as, symbols of strength and wisdom.

Trees pull at us in ways that other plants don’t. I am thinking of the giant sycamore in my backyard that shapes my childhood memories or the majestic redwoods that mesmerize countless visitors every year. We assume that trees have always been and will always be, but reading The Journeys of Trees explains to us that trees are restless and have survived by random chance. Author Zach St. George writes,

“The migration of a forest is just many trees sprouting in the same direction. Through the fossils that ancient forests left behind, scientists can track their movements over the eons. They shuffle back and forth across continents, sometimes following the same route more than once, like migrating birds or whales.”

How did trees get to be where they are, and what might their fate be as climate change continues to accelerate at unprecedented levels? What does the future of forest conservation look like in the lens of past, sometimes misguided practices? These are the types of questions the book explores through the author’s creative use of science writing and travel anecdotes from around the country and overseas.

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The Journeys of Trees: A Story about Forests, People, and the Future