Sequoia National Park, California — What if the climate crisis threatens the very things needed to deal with the immense climate crisis?
This was a nasty question that came to my mind when I was walking through a magnificent sequoia forest with a teenager one recent weekend.
We took a leisurely drive from Los Angeles, stopped at Enchilada in a small restaurant surrounded by orchards, sat on a rock and saw squirrels break down food behind these giant old trees. Native to the western Sierra Nevada, Sequoia has been found to be the oldest and most adaptable tree in North America. They can survive extreme droughts, heat and cold. They breed through the fire.
But as teenagers point out, even some of the toughest creatures have their limits.
Fires are now hitting nearby Yosemite National Park, including hundreds of Sequoia and Mariposa Grove, home to some very old Sequoia. Climate change has set fire by increasing the frequency of extremely hot and dry weather.
Only the fires of the last two years left what the Associated Press explained “Amazing” deaths among these giants.. Approximately 20% of the largest sequoia, sequoia over 4 feet in diameter, is estimated to be lost.
According to the National Park Service, in the last few years, a much wider area of sequoia groves has been destroyed by fire than in the last century.
Ranger Simon Fiast, who works at the Giant Forest Museum in Sequoia National Park, said he was confident that the species would survive. But when the 1,000-year-old tree was burning, he raised his hand and said, “It’s like losing Notre Dame.”
Our expedition from Los Angeles drove the good, bad, and ugly things of the times we lived in. This year, the Central Valley did not have enough water to plant all the fields, so it passed through fallow. (The Los Angeles Times reported:395,000 acres of farmland have been cultivated throughout California due to drought.. We passed through a bright mass of water-irrigated orchards from a boldly designed canal. I passed a small fire near a winding pass called Grapevine. Next is the oil well. “Causes and impacts of climate change,” the teenager observed.
I pointed out our accomplice. After all, we were driving a rental car with an internal combustion engine. The teenager sang with Janelle Monáe, which was otherwise uncomfortable. (If you know Lyrics of “I Like That” you know what i mean. )
By the time we arrived at the park gate, the temperature was 100 degrees Fahrenheit and about 37 degrees Celsius. The lowland belt of the park was dry. Some oak was caramel color.
I saw smoke rising from the hill of ashes. The fire brigade was the oldest sequoia in the park, burning open fire near General Sherman’s tree, which was crowded with tourists. Burning is designed to remove understory vegetation and reduce the risk of fire.
We asked Fiast what he could do to protect trees in times of climate change. In the long run, he said, there is a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But he added that park officials are currently discussing some anomalous measures. Do you need to spray water on the forest to avoid the risk of fire? Do you need to spray a small amount of pesticide on a tree that is infested with beetles? “These are moral dilemmas,” he said.
Two children approach Fiast in search of a Junior Ranger badge. They repeated the junior ranger’s oath after him. “I will continue to explore, learn and care for the natural world wherever I go,” the pledge went on.
I felt a lump in my throat.
These trees were very enduring. They were shaped by so many shocks and losses. I’m glad to be in front of them with my kids. However, it was good to remember the connection with the creature, not my own. It brought back the instability of being human at this moment. It gave me permission to accept that my own resilience is limited.
It made me a little stationary.
More and more studies spend more time in nature, even two hours a week Measurable benefits For our physical health and cognitive function. I think it’s becoming more and more urgent when we live in an era when we are asked to absorb so many heavy and intolerable facts about the world. It helps me understand what I cover as a reporter every day. It helps me to be an attentive parent. It helps me face my own shock and loss.
On the second day in the park, the teenager and I climbed the Tocopper Falls. On a very hot day, I was relieved by a simple hike. We gave way to faster pedestrians and overtook slower pedestrians to be as unobtrusive as possible. We took off our shoes and stopped immersing our toes in the cold water spouting from the rocks above. We pass a small chunk of coral-colored flowers, then purple flowers go uphill, the fallen logs break down and give way to new life, and when they reach the edge of the waterfall, the rocks cool to the touch. I did. We sat down. We lifted our face and felt the spray.
Drought in northern Italy: The long dry period endangered rice harvesting and other crops in fertile areas.
Urban oasis: Côte d’Ivoire officials are trying to revitalize Abidjan’s Banco National Park. It is one of the last major rainforests in the world to survive within major metropolises.
Before You Go: A Deadly Amazon Journey
Freelance journalist Dom Phillips and former government official Bruno Pereira, who worked to protect the Amazon, set out deep in the woods this summer to meet a group of indigenous people patrolling their lands. Did. After that, they disappeared. Brazilian correspondents at the Times followed their last journey to understand what happened to the men and why.
thank you for reading. I’ll be back on Friday.
Manuela Andreoni, Claire O’Neill and Douglas Alteen contributed to Climate Forward.
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