On the morning of June 12 2018, I was sitting at my desk on the 24th floor in an office on Broadway, New York. I was scanning through the emails which had arrived in my inbox overnight. One of them was a daily climate change newsletter. Amongst the slew of headlines, one caught my eye:

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Giant African baobab trees die suddenly after thousands of years

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I lived in Malawi, in south-east Africa, for a year before I went to university and I know baobab trees. The story filled me with grief. The researchers attributed the sudden collapse of these thousand plus year old trees to climate change. It was a spear in the heart moment for me. What were we doing to these beings and so many others, not to mention fellow human beings?

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The story stayed me with all day. I got home that evening and wrote in my notebook – a new notebook, no less, to mark the significance of the event – “I have my book concept. ‘A history of the future of the world in 12 trees’. Or maybe 10.”

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And I listed out trees: baobabs, eucalpytus, cedar, birch, oak, mangrove.

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Since then, I have been developing the idea, and making preparation for the research journey to visit the 10 trees throughout 2019. (In the end, I decided 10 rather than 12 would be more manageable). I have visited the 10 trees in different ecosystems, in different parts of the world, and which are being affected by climate change in different ways. I listened to the stories of the trees and the stories of the people whose lives are intertwined with the trees – which ultimately all our lives are.

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I wanted to understand what we can learn about what the future holds from what the trees are telling us now – and what we can do in the face of this future. It was also a personal journey for me, of deepening my connection to trees and nature, and understanding what does it truly mean to listen to and learn from the trees.

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The trees I have visited are:

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• Mangroves - Florida, USA (not included in the book)

• Birch tree, Finland

• Banyan tree - Auroville, India

• Bodhi tree - Sri Lanka

• Eucalyptus - Blue Mountains, Australia

• Ceiba - Amazon basin, Ecuador

• Baruzeiro - the Cerrado, Brazil

• Olive - Nice, France

• Oak - Sheffield, England

• Giant sequoia - California

• Beech tree - Lewes, England

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Due to the pandemic, I never made it to the baobab, the tree that began this whole journey. Perhaps I will still get there someday. 

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I am now in the journey of writing the book. You can keep up-to-date through my Substack (free to subscribe). The name of the Substack is the title for my book, To Hear the Trees Speak. 

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Picture on this page: Stirling National Park, Western Australia. Olivia Sprinkel