The Forest And The Trees Analysis

Humans are constantly changing the world to facilitate our growing need of comfort. The burning of fossil fuels adding acidity to oceans and myriad carbon to the atmospheric layer to result in global warming. Elizabeth Kolbert interprets the idea of destruction through global warming in her article “The Forest and the Trees”. “Global warming is mostly seen as a threat to cold-loving species, and there are good reasons for this” (Kolbert 150). Mostly, global warming results in increased temperature which will cause the North and South Pole to melt. All species that rely on the cold and ice will forcefully be driven to extinction. Though, Kolbert further interprets that the poles are not the only places to be affected by this but areas with higher …show more content…
“As a general rule, the variety of life is most impoverished at the poles and the richest at low latitudes” (Kolber 152) and this is referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient. Inorder to prove this phenomenon, more than 30 theories have been advanced. One theory holds that more species live in the tropics because they can produce more generation at lower latitudes and with more generation will come more mutations and a more likely chance of emergence of new species. Kolbert goes around the forest with Silman discovering new species of trees, some of whose leaves are as big as a dinner plate. “The trees were not just trees; they were more like botanical gardens, covered with ferns and orchids...strung with lianas” (Kolbert 155). The wide diversity of species in the forest, according to Kolbert, was probably because of greater competition which pushed them to specialize because of which more specialists could coexist in the same space. This is one of the main reasons that Kolbert chose to go and see the variety of life being affected by this in the tropics. Climate change has played a great role even before the emergence of species and from the last forty years the Earth has been in a cooling phase. “One theory is that the uplift of …show more content…
The theories behind the inhabitants of the tropics and its requirement for their survival is of crucial importance. Because this will not only affect them but our species as well. The rising global warming and acidity in the oceans might cause us to change our lifestyles and face new unpredicted problems along with species trying to survive. Trees and plant life is very important for human survival which makes this of greater concern but we cannot be certain of its impact until the time arrives. As Silman says, “If evolution works the way it usually does...it starts to look apocalyptic” (Kolbert 172). Therefore, the impact of historical experiences on species (trees and plant life) relative to climate change today must be taken into