Our lives are deeply connected to those of trees. The oxygen in our lungs, the wood in our houses, the water in our taps, the natural diversity and beauty of our planet, all depend on forests. In the Front Range, this relationship is particularly strong: the vitality of the human economy and the ecology of the region is dependent on the health of forests, yet these forests are changing rapidly as urbanization, fire, drought, and other changes sweep across the region.
David George Haskell is a Pulitzer Finalist and recipient of numerous writing and teaching awards. He will discuss his latest book, The Songs of Trees, winner of the Burroughs Medal and a “Best of 2017” pick from NPR’s Science Friday. Haskell repeatedly visited a dozen trees around the world, exploring how people and trees and connected in places as diverse as the Amazon rainforest, the Old City of Jerusalem, the streets of Manhattan, and the Front Range of Colorado. Writing in Brain Pickings, Maria Popova said of the book: “Haskell proves himself to be the rare kind of scientist Rachel Carson was when long ago she pioneered a new cultural aesthetic of poetic prose about science…a resplendent read in its entirety”.