Futurity

Alaskan forests show resilience in face of climate change

"We're looking for policy or looking for everyone to get onboard with the Paris Agreement... but I think more can come from individual action."

On a mission to explore the fate of the yellow cedar tree in Southeast Alaska, Stanford University doctoral student Lauren Oakes discovered a surprise: the resiliency of forgotten forests that recovered from years of climate change impacts.

In her new book, In Search of the Canary Tree (Basic Books, 2018), Oakes shares the stories of hope she found in Alaska: communities coming together, species adapting to new conditions and people finding ways to help those less fortunate than themselves.

Here, Oakes, also an adjunct professor in Earth system science and a conservation scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, discusses what she gained from immersing herself in local communities and what we can learn when we look beyond science.

Standing dead yellow cedar tree
Standing dead yellow cedar trees along the outer coast of Southeast Alaska. (Credit: Lauren Oakes)

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