To claim that science is impartial and bloodless is incorrect
March 11, 2024 2:32 AM Subscribe
To know a tree best, it’s important to move beyond biology and to the emotions and sensations it stirs. Beauty as a branch of biology is underrated. from The Extraordinary Lives Of Coast Redwoods [Noema]
I went to Millerton Lake recently, the view reminded me of the oh-so-lovely Lake Arrowhead – after it getting hit with a ~10MT bomb (i.e. Spirit Lake after the volcano woke up).
All these foothills need are just some trees, but a 500' elevation in a desert climate ain't going to get that without active irrigation, alas. The foothills at 3000' - 5000' above Lake Millerton got largely wiped out in a single fire event in 2020.
posted by torokunai at 9:44 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]
All these foothills need are just some trees, but a 500' elevation in a desert climate ain't going to get that without active irrigation, alas. The foothills at 3000' - 5000' above Lake Millerton got largely wiped out in a single fire event in 2020.
posted by torokunai at 9:44 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]
Oh, I loved this. I love trees, although I don't know much about them. There was a (pine?) tree on the campus of Seattle University where the huge branches sagged down to the pavement and then turned back up, and you could walk underneath it and it was like you were inside the tree, just surrounded by branches and needles.
Mind-blowing:
It takes a redwood weeks to pull water up from its roots to the canopy. Sucking water up a straw from a drinking glass is a trivial task. But as a straw gets longer and longer, the pressure needed to raise the water gets greater. The tree pulls mightily against the negative pressure generated by passing liquid through wood. The tallest redwoods probably generate some two million pounds of negative pressure.
And it makes me want to go back and read Child of Fortune, a significant part of which takes place in the canopy of a giant forest.
Thanks so much for posting!
posted by Gorgik at 11:04 AM on March 11 [3 favorites]
Mind-blowing:
It takes a redwood weeks to pull water up from its roots to the canopy. Sucking water up a straw from a drinking glass is a trivial task. But as a straw gets longer and longer, the pressure needed to raise the water gets greater. The tree pulls mightily against the negative pressure generated by passing liquid through wood. The tallest redwoods probably generate some two million pounds of negative pressure.
And it makes me want to go back and read Child of Fortune, a significant part of which takes place in the canopy of a giant forest.
Thanks so much for posting!
posted by Gorgik at 11:04 AM on March 11 [3 favorites]
The awesome (in the original sense of the word) yet calm beauty of these enormous trees when I visited the Muir Woods is what convinced me to move to the west coast.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:22 PM on March 11 [3 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:22 PM on March 11 [3 favorites]
The Overstory is a cracker of a book that is all about trees.
An excellent and very relevant book.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:56 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]
An excellent and very relevant book.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:56 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]
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posted by Czjewel at 9:41 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]