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  • The Treeline

  • The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth
  • By: Ben Rawlence
  • Narrated by: Jamie Parker
  • Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (81 ratings)

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The Treeline

By: Ben Rawlence
Narrated by: Jamie Parker
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The Treeline is a spellbinding blend of nature, travel and science writing, deeply researched and beautifully written, underpinned by an urgent environmental message.

The Arctic Treeline - the northern limit of the boreal forest that encircles the globe in an almost unbroken green ring - is the second largest biome on our planet. At this little-known frontline of climate change, the trees have been creeping towards the pole for 50 years already.

Six of the tree species that populate these forests (larch, spruce, mountain ash, downy birch, balsam poplar and Scots pine) form the central protagonists of Ben Rawlence's story. In Scotland, Northern Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland, he discovers what these trees and the people who live and work alongside them have to tell us about the past, present and future of our planet. Scientists are only just beginning to understand the astonishing significance of these forests for all life on Earth. At the Treeline, Rawlence witnesses the accelerating impact of climate change and the devastating legacies of colonialism and capitalism. But he also finds reasons for hope. Humans are creatures of the forest; we have always evolved with trees. The Treeline asks us where our co-evolution might take us next.

©2022 Ben Rawlence (P)2022 Penguin Audio
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What listeners say about The Treeline

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A magnum opus

Ecology, History, Spirituality, Mythology, Travelog. Just amazing. So hope filled as well. Great stuff overall.

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1 person found this helpful

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Thought provking...

One of the most interesting and thought provoking books I've read in a long time.
Very good narration too👍🏼

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Sobering but hopeful

The book takes you on a sobering circumnavigation of the northern latitudes to investigate the impact of climate change. Unique, sobering and ultimately hopeful.

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Great Book

A well written and researched book, well read, and a very interesting, exciting and important topic.

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Fascinating

Not my usual read but a fascinating book and beautifully descriptive, with a very worrying story.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating glimpse into the climate and trees

A very enjoyable but quite detailed look at the real treeline, how it has changed, what it means for us and ultimately, can we do anything about it?
Thought -provoking and acknowledges climate change without being adversarial with opinions - this is more about looking at what happens cyclically as well as man-made issues and also introduces the various people who live on the treeline across the continents.
Exceptionally well narrated too which helped absorb the information.

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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

Eye opening wake-up call

A very interesting story exploring the health of the treeline around the northern hemisphere, investigating the worrying rapid movement of the treeline due to global warming and the trigger effects it has, a truly concerning wake up call to everyone on the planet to do their bit however small too reduce our carbon footprint .
the author also explains the different interactions between species and touches on ancient traditional human cultures and the wealth of wisdom and knowledge we are in danger of losing in our modernisation and losing touch with nature.
the narrator is easy to listen to.

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excellent and scary

brimming with information a must listen for all if we are to try and mintage climate change.

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    3 out of 5 stars

okish

Could have been quite good if there wasn't a fair bit of neo pagan made up stuff.

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2 people found this helpful

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Wonderful

Solemn, mournful, moving, informative. A poetically rich meditation on where we are, how we got here, and what the future (no longer) holds

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