Books and Articles About Nature, Sustainability, and Human-environment relationships
Writing
Books
Treekeepers: The Race for a Forested Future
How the path from climate change to a habitable future winds through the world’s forests.
In recent years, planting a tree has become a catchall to represent “doing something good for the planet.” Many companies commit to planting a tree with every purchase. But who plants those trees and where? Will they flourish and offer the benefits that people expect? Can all the individual efforts around the world help remedy the ever-looming climate crisis?
In Treekeepers, Lauren E. Oakes takes us on a poetic and practical journey from the Scottish Highlands to the Panamanian jungle to meet the scientists, innovators, and local citizens who each offer part of the answer. Their work isn’t just about planting lots of trees, but also about understanding what it takes to grow or regrow a forest and to protect what remains. Throughout, Oakes shows the complex roles of forests in the fight against climate change, and of the people who are giving trees a chance with hope for our mutual survival.
Timely, meticulously reported, and ultimately optimistic, Treekeepers teaches us how to live with a sense of urgency in our warming world, to find beauty in the present for ourselves and our children, and to take action big or small.
“Can trees really save us? Oakes digs deep into the complexities of planting forests to soak up carbon. The result is a frank, probing, but ultimately hopeful book.” — Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction
“Lauren E. Oakes knows forests, and in Treekeepers, she introduces us to the vibrant global community working to restore forests of all kinds—and ensure our collective survival. An insightful, beautifully reported, and much-needed guide to the hope beyond the tree-planting hype.”— Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in the Age of Extinction
“While we know nature alone can’t solve our climate crisis, we also know it can’t be solved without nature. That includes efforts like 1t.org to conserve, restore and grow a trillion trees. In Treekeepers: The Race for a Forested Future, Oakes shows the incredible power of our forests to remove carbon from the atmosphere. It’s a call to action for everyone to work together to heal our planet for future generations.” — Marc Benioff, Chair & CEO, Salesforce
“The author blends first-person reporting and ecology to winning effect… Readers will come away with a comprehensive understanding of what trees can and can’t do for the environment.” — Publishers Weekly
“A comprehensive study of this crucial topic … contributing significantly to the ongoing dialogue on environmental conservation and climate action. An important resource for those seeking to understand the complexities of forest conservation in the face of global environmental challenges.” — Kirkus Reviews
Published November 2024
Order Treekeepers Now
Order your copy today or purchase a signed copy through Lauren’s local bookstore.
The Best Science Books Of 2018
Science Friday Selection
Second Place 2019
Rachel Carson Environment Book Award
Finalist 2019
National Academies Communication Award
In Search of the Canary Tree: The Story of Scientist, a Cypress, and a Changing World
The surprisingly hopeful story of one woman’s search for resiliency in a warming world.
Ecologist Lauren E. Oakes sets out from California for Alaska’s old-growth forests to hunt for a dying tree: the yellow-cedar. With climate change as the culprit, the death of this species has meant loss for many Alaskans, but Oakes chronicles how plants and people can cope with their rapidly changing world. Amidst the standing dead, she discovers the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again in the wake of destruction, and a diverse community of people who persevere to create new relationships with the emerging environment. Eloquent, insightful, and deeply heartening, In Search of the Canary Tree is a case for hope in a warming world.
“In a warming world, we need wisdom as well as knowledge; In Search of the Canary Tree is a rich source of both. Join Lauren E. Oakes in the fragile yellow-cedar forests of Alaska and discover not only how field ecologists do their work, but why.” — Dan Fagin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Toms River
“We live in a moment of loss, and we are obligated not only to try and stop it, but to find the instances of resilience that can help us cope with that great tragedy. This book rises to the occasion!” — Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
“…Oakes tells a powerful, nuanced story of climate change and our response to it. Deftly crossing boundaries from the scientific to the personal and from the measurable to the immeasurable, she takes the reader on an extraordinary adventure from despair to faith. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for optimism about the future of our changing planet.” — Juli Berwald, author of Life on the Rocks and Spineless
“This is a book of courage that celebrates the sustaining power of community, both human and wild.” — Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Hour of Land
“Engaging and galvanizing, In Search of the Canary Tree is about more than a rare tree — it’s about nature’s (and humanity’s) capacity for resilience in a changing world.” — Shelf Awareness
