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Virtual Event: John Reid
April 3, 2023 @ 6:00 pm
Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Harvard Library welcome nature conservation writer JOHN REID for a discussion of his new book Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet. He will be joined in conversation by M. R. O’CONNOR—investigative journalist and author.
Contribute to Support Harvard Book Store
While payment is not required, we are suggesting a $5 contribution to support this author series, our staff, and the future of Harvard Book Store—a locally owned, independently run Cambridge institution. In addition, by purchasing a copy of Ever Green on harvard.com, you support indie bookselling and the writing community during this difficult time.
About Ever Green
Five stunningly large forests remain on Earth: the Taiga, extending from the Pacific Ocean across all of Russia and far-northern Europe; the North American boreal, ranging from Alaska’s Bering seacoast to Canada’s Atlantic shore; the Amazon, covering almost the entirety of South America’s bulge; the Congo, occupying parts of six nations in Africa’s wet equatorial middle; and the island forest of New Guinea, twice the size of California.
These megaforests are vital to preserving global biodiversity, thousands of cultures, and a stable climate, as economist John W. Reid and celebrated biologist Thomas E. Lovejoy argue convincingly in Ever Green. Megaforests serve an essential role in decarbonizing the atmosphere―the boreal alone holds 1.8 trillion metric tons of carbon in its deep soils and peat layers, 190 years’ worth of global emissions at 2019 levels―and saving them is the most immediate and affordable large-scale solution to our planet’s most formidable ongoing crisis.
Reid and Lovejoy offer practical solutions to address the biggest challenges these forests face, from vastly expanding protected areas, to supporting Indigenous forest stewards, to planning smarter road networks. In gorgeous prose that evokes the majesty of these ancient forests along with the people and animals who inhabit them, Reid and Lovejoy take us on an exhilarating global journey.
Praise for Ever Green
“Eloquent and fact-filled . . . Ever Green, for all its scholarly precision, is ultimately an impassioned plea to save the world’s last great wild places by two men who had come, through long professional acquaintance, to love them. Readers will find their passion to be contagious.” —Richard Schiffman, Washington Post
“Wide-ranging and earnest . . . Ever Green diligently lays out the science supporting forest preservation . . . But the book’s best moments come when the authors talk about the forests themselves and the luxuriant diversity of life―animal, plant, and human―that can be found in them. The result is an appeal to both the mind and the heart. We must preserve the forests to survive, and we must preserve the forests because it is a moral imperative.” —Cory Oldweiler, Boston Globe
“An outstanding primer on the vital role intact forests play in sustaining the biosphere.” —Thomas Friedman, New York Times
“There is no better or more readable guide to the bewildering array of threats to forests or to the economic and institutional programs created to protect them . . . It’s impossible to read Ever Green without being moved by the vision and commitment of the people―including its authors―who’ve devoted themselves to protecting the world’s forests.” —Verlyn Klinkenborg, New York Review of Books
