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When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World
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About This Book
The trailblazing scientist who pioneered the concept of sophisticated communication between trees returns with a book that places nature's own cycles of renewal at the center of a powerful vision for the future of our forestsWith her bestselling book Finding the Mother Tree, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard introduced the world to the profound intelligence and interconnectedness of trees. Now, with When the Forest Breathes, she uncovers the ways that nature's deep-rooted cycles of renewal can ensure the longevity of threatened ecosystems.Raised in a family of loggers committed to sensible forest stewardship, Simard has watched as timber companies leave forests at higher risk for wildfires, water crises, and plant and animal extinction. But her research has the potential to chart a new course. The forest, she reveals, is a symphony of finely honed cycles of regeneration—from mushrooms breaking down logs to dying elder trees passing their genetic knowledge to younger ones—that hold the key to protecting our forests. Working closely with local Indigenous communities, whose models of responsible forestry have been largely dismissed, Simard examines how human interventions—particularly destruction of the overstory's mother trees—endanger new growth and longevity. If we can honor the tools that trees have honed for sharing intergenerational wisdom, she argues, we can protect these sacred places for many years to come.As she considers how older living things facilitate the conditions for new growth to flourish, Simard faces parallel rhythms of loss and regeneration in her own life, watching her two daughters grow into adults and savoring her final days with her ailing mother. Animated by wonder for our forests and the intricate practices of caretaking that have long sustained them, When the Forest Breathes is a vital reminder of all the natural world has to teach us about adaptability, resilience, and community.
Reviews
"Heady, inspirational ..."
"Simard has great regard for the 'ancestral knowledge' of indigenous people, writing with reverence of such tribal practices as speaking politely to cedars before harvesting their bark and using music to ask permission of a forest before entering it ..."
"Simard's lyrical tributes to the creatures large and small that make up an ecological system, from fungi and moss to squirrels and bears to the largest and oldest of trees, add a dimension of heart to her more abstruse scientific musings ..."
"Simard replies that the data she and others have collected over the past few decades speaks for itself ..."
"There is poetry in this work deep in the forest, and she doesn't shy away from it ..."
"Simard artfully highlights the importance of honoring natural cycles by reflecting on her daughter's coming-of-age and her mother's reaching the end of her life."
"The discoveries about underground carbon sequestration and mycorrhizal networks are genuinely fascinating, and Simard is a clear and engaging narrator ..."
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