The Power of Trees by Peter Wohlleben | Black Inc.
The Power of Trees

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The Power of Trees: How Ancient Forests Can Save Us If We Let Them

Peter Wohlleben

The follow-up to the international bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees, offering compelling insights into the lungs of our planet and the fragility of our intertwined futures.

‘Eye-opening … The Power of Trees reminds us that trees are not the slow learners when it comes to climate change – we are.’ —Danielle Clode

Trees can survive without humans, but we can’t live without trees. Even if human-caused climate change devastates our planet, trees will return – as they do, always and everywhere, even after ice ages, catastrophic fires, destructive storms and deforestation. It would be nice if we were around to see them flourish.

The Power of Trees is forester Peter Wohlleben’s follow-up to his internationally bestselling The Hidden Life of Trees. It is as fascinating and eye-opening as it is trenchant in its critique: on the one hand, Wohlleben shares astonishing discoveries about how trees pass knowledge down to succeeding generations that helps them survive climate change; on the other, he is unsparing in his criticism of those who wield economic and political power – who plant trees exclusively for the sake of logging and virtue-signalling, even as they ruthlessly exploit nature. The Power of Trees is a love letter to the forest and a passionate argument for protecting nature’s boundless diversity – not only for the trees, but also for ourselves.

‘A magisterial take on how forests can save the planet from our worst endeavours’ —Fred Pearce

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About the author

Peter Wohlleben

Peter Wohlleben spent more than twenty years working for the forestry commission before leaving to put his ideas of ecology into practice. He now runs an environmentally friendly woodland in Germany, where he is working for the return of primeval forests. …

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Praise for The Power of Trees

‘An eye-opening insight into the long-lived world of trees, and what they have learnt from our impact on their world. The Power of Trees reminds us that trees are not the slow learners when it comes to climate change – we are.’ —Danielle Clode, author of Koala: A Life in Trees

‘Trees, says Peter Wohlleben, have wisdom. So does he. In this magisterial take on how forests can save the planet from our worst endeavours, [Wohlleben] says the world needs the quiet magic of natural forest restoration. We are, at best, stewards of the world’s forests. We must stand back and let them grow.’ —Fred Pearce, author of A Trillion Trees: Restoring Our Forests by Trusting in Nature

‘This is a thought-provoking read that explains the intrinsic value of our forests, and the need to protect nature's diversity to ensure the survival of both the trees and ourselves.’ —Gardening Australia

‘We know forests remove CO2 from the air – but they do much more and this unusual, almost personal narrative, explains it all in understandable prose’ —Cosmos Magazine

‘Like all Wohlleben’s work, The Power of Trees is highly readable, brimming with solid research, and a passionate endorsement of the importance of forests for humanity and the planet.’ —Angela Crocombe, Readings

‘Wohlleben does well … to offer simple science and solutions to climate change to encourage people to care more about our natural environment. And his central message … is reassuring amid the climate turmoil.’ —Nicola Harvey, The Saturday Paper

‘Elon Musk has offered a prize of $100m for the best carbon capture and sequestration proposal. I can save his committee a lot of time. The money should go to Peter Wohlleben, the German forester whose book The Hidden Life of Trees was the most improbable and encouraging blockbuster of 2015.’ —Charles Foster, The Guardian

‘Wise and thought-provoking’ —Rohan Silva, The Observer
 

‘Wohlleben is a passionate advocate for trees and the environment, and this is a realistic, readable and ultimately hopeful read about both.’ —Cheryl Akle, The Weekend Australian

‘Forests can save us if we let them.’ —Sebastian Barn, The Australian Women’s Weekly

‘We certainly need books such as The Power of Trees in the world.’ —Sophie Cunningham, The Age

‘...it’s this down to earth, conversational style that makes the book come to life and makes complex science accessible.’ —Vicki Renner, ArtsHub

‘[Peter Wohlleben] brings fascinating and astonishing discoveries about how trees pass survival knowledge down to succeeding generations that helps them survive climate change … This book is a love letter to the forest and a passionate argument for protecting nature's boundless diversity.’ —Sunraysia Daily ‘Books full of good advice’

‘Keeping old forests helps ameliorate warming, so there is a clear logic here: it is good to protect old trees now, so that we can keep them in future.’ —Nick Mattiske, Insights Magazine

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