Earth, Wind and Fire

We know that fungi and trees co-exist in an intimate, sophisticated ''wood wide web'', to the benefit of both; what we didn''t know, until now, is the colossal extent to which trees shape our world. Taking us on an awe-inspiring journey through time and across the globe, Earth, Wind and Fire restores trees to their rightful position as agents and protagonists in a grand ecological narrative. For the first time, we witness the inventive and astonishing ways trees interact with, sculpt and even master their environment. Some have been using fire as a reproductive tool since prehistoric times. Others have gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure their fruits reach large primates who can spread their seeds over vast distances while poisoning smaller, thus less useful, mammals. Some can even split solid rock and create fertile ground in barren landscapes, effectively building entire ecosystems from scratch. From oaks growing in Devon and Amedi in Iraq to the laurel rainforests of the Canary Islands and metasequoias in California, we see how trees not only farm the landscape in which they grow but also manipulate the fundamental elements, other species and even humankind to achieve their ends. At once poetic and erudite, this eye-opening look into the inner lives of nature''s most powerful plant is both a lyrical paean to trees and an urgent reminder why our trees must be saved - before it''s too late.

Auteur

Harriet Rix is a tree science consultant based at the Tree Council, where she currently supports Defra in researching tree diseases and urban tree strategies. Before joining the tree sector in 2018, her jobs included farming sheep near Parnassus in Greece, working in landmine clearance in Syria for the HALO Trust and in Eastern Syria for the Danish Church, and as a liaison officer for a US department of state-sponsored EID clearance programme in Baghdad and Anbar province. She acted as a scientific advisor on Adrien Grenier's climate documentary, was secretary for Hedgelink and is a trustee of the Iraqi environmental charity Hasar.

Rix holds a biochemistry degree from the University of Oxford and an MPhil in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. She was a 2021/2022 London Library Emerging Writer, and her writing and photography has been published in the Financial Times, London Review of Books and Times Literary Supplement, among others. Earth, Wind and Fire is her first book.

Texte du rabat

We know that fungi and trees co-exist in an intimate, sophisticated 'wood wide web', to the benefit of both; what we didn't know, until now, is the colossal extent to which trees shape our world. Taking us on an awe-inspiring journey through time and across the globe, Earth, Wind and Fire restores trees to their rightful position as agents and protagonists in a grand ecological narrative. For the first time, we witness the inventive and astonishing ways trees interact with, sculpt and even master their environment. Some have been using fire as a reproductive tool since prehistoric times. Others have gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure their fruits reach large primates who can spread their seeds over vast distances while poisoning smaller, thus less useful, mammals. Some can even split solid rock and create fertile ground in barren landscapes, effectively building entire ecosystems from scratch. From oaks growing in Devon and Amedi in Iraq to the laurel rainforests of the Canary Islands and metasequoias in California, we see how trees not only farm the landscape in which they grow but also manipulate the fundamental elements, other species and even humankind to achieve their ends. At once poetic and erudite, this eye-opening look into the inner lives of nature's most powerful plant is both a lyrical paean to trees and an urgent reminder why our trees must be saved - before it's too late.