- This event has passed.
Zach St. George Discusses his new book, The Journeys of Trees
July 21, 2020 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm PDT
Science reporter Zach St. George joins us to discuss his new book, The Journeys of Trees: A Story About Forests, People, and the Future (W.W. Norton).
This virtual event will be broadcast on our Crowdcast Channel. Register here.
About The Journeys of Trees
Forests are restless. Any time a tree dies or a new one sprouts, the forest that includes it has shifted. When new trees sprout in the same direction, the whole forest begins to migrate, sometimes at astonishing rates. Today, however, an array of obstacles—humans felling trees by the billions, invasive pests transported through global trade—threaten to overwhelm these vital movements. Worst of all, the climate is changing faster than ever before, and forests are struggling to keep up.
A deft blend of science reporting and travel writing, The Journeys of Trees explores the evolving movements of forests by focusing on five trees: giant sequoia, ash, black spruce, Florida torreya, and Monterey pine. Journalist Zach St. George visits these trees in forests across continents, finding sequoias losing their needles in California, fossil records showing the paths of ancient forests in Alaska, domesticated pines in New Zealand, and tender new sprouts of blight-resistant American chestnuts in New Hampshire. Everywhere he goes, St. George meets lively people on conservation’s front lines, from an ecologist studying droughts to an evolutionary evangelist with plans to save a dying species. He treks through the woods with activists, biologists, and foresters, each with their own role to play in the fight for the uncertain future of our environment.
An eye-opening investigation into forest migration past and present, The Journeys of Trees examines how we can all help our trees, and our planet, survive and thrive.
About Zach St. George
Zach St. George is a science reporter who has written for the Atlantic, Scientific American, and Outside, among other publications. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, and lives in Baltimore, Maryland.