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

The Power of Trees is forester Peter Wohlleben's follow-up to The Hidden Life of Trees, a New York Times bestseller that sold millions of copies worldwide. The Power of Trees is as fascinating and eye-opening as it is trenchant in its critique: on the one hand, Wohlleben describes astonishing discoveries about how trees pass knowledge down to succeeding generations and their ability to 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-signaling, even as they ruthlessly exploit nature.

The Promise 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.

Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.