If you understand the relationship between trees and climate change, if you learn how to observe the landscapes of your country with the eyes of a climate scientist; you will be better able to act upon it.
In this video we show you 3 basic signs in any landscape that point at evidence and causes of a changing climate: monocultures, bare soil and the lack of trees on mountain slopes.
Already these three patterns on any landscape are a sign of how humans trigger climate change.
But most of us live in cities. As more and more people grow up surrounded by buildings and asphalt, we have forgotten how to read landscapes: how to tell whether forests are shrinking, how climate change affects animals or whether the quality of the soil is changing.
And yet, reading a landscape correctly is important. If you understand what’s going on, you can hold local and national authorities accountable to do something about it before it’s too late.
Droughts can create ideal conditions for wildfires. Dry trees and vegetation provide fuel. Low soil and air moisture make it easier for fires to spread quickly. In these conditions, a spark from lightning, electrical failures, human error or planned fires can quickly get out of control. As Earth’s climate warms and precipitation patterns change, increasingly severe droughts will leave some areas of the world vulnerable to increasingly severe fires. Understanding how fires behave in dry conditions can help firefighters, first responders and others prepare for a hotter, drier future.
David Milarch’s near-death experience inspired a personal quest: to archive the genetics of the world’s largest trees before they’re gone. This short film from The Story Group documents his effort to save the redwood champions of Northern California from the effects of climate change.
