The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue by Mike Tidwell #
The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue, Mike Tidwell (audio). This book tells the story of the impact of climate change and what might be done about it through a very interesting literary lens: it tells the story of a group of large oak trees on the author’s street over teh course of one year.Whence the subtitle: "A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street. In contrast to large-scale statistics about the overall climate around the globe, this hyper-local story-telling helps make vivid that the impacts of global warming are already literally on our doorstep. The book has several main characters. First, there are the large oak trees, which are victimized by a crippling heat dome in 2023 and resulting bettle infestations (not to mention dramatic flash flooding events), the loss of which both not only saddens locals but also greatly changes local ecosytems. Secondly, there’s Ning Zheng, Tidwell’s neighbor and scientist, who is pioneering the idea of burying dying trees as a method of carbon capture. Ning also serves as skeptical backdrop to one of Tidwell’s main personal aims in the book: to assess the feasibility (and possible necessity) of solar geoengineering, i.e. using things like aerosols to reflect some sunlight away from the earth’s surface as a method of cooling. Thirdly, there’s Jamie Raskin, Tidwell’s representative in the US House, with a riveting story both in politics and his personal life. These are primary characters, against a backdrop of many other personal stories told throughout.
The story-telling is neatly divided into chapters based on month. So we get the story of one street through one year, with many other characters coming and going. Tidwell’s a great writer, who can be forgiven for the occasional literary flourish.For example, at the end of one chapter, with a very grandiose ending, I fully expected to hear “This concludes the presentation…”. But perhaps this also has to do with the audio medium. The book tries to provide hope—not least because Tidwell himself is looking for hope—but does not shy away from the realism of what is happening all around us. Zheng, for instance, does not provide the simple assurance that Tidwell hopes he might. Another source of hope: perhaps humanizing the problem in the way this book does will make more people willing to advocate for what must happen to save our planet.
Grade: A-