Habitat First Aid

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always… The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe.”

John Steinbeck

Last week I had the opportunity to see two kinds of Redwood trees.

In the Oakland hills of California, is a forest of Coastal Redwoods, native to the US. They are stunning.

While redwood forests were heavily logged throughout the 1900s and are still at risk today, there are now 43 redwood parks in California. More and more people are seeing the value of protecting these forests.

To my surprise, at the University of California Botanical Garden, I saw another species: Dawn Redwoods. Dawn Redwoods are one of only three living species of redwoods and are (now) native only to China. I thought I’d never see one and was stunned to learn that several grew where in the garden. It was a highlight of my day.

Until the 1940s the Dawn Redwood was thought to be extinct until biologists realized a few thousand trees grew in China. Today they also grow in parks around the world, like the ones I saw.

The day after I saw the redwoods I found myself in the emergency room with dehydration. This was less exciting but no less remarkable.

When I went to the ER I felt perhaps the worst I have felt in my life. Within 10 minutes of getting an IV I began to improve, and within an hour I was feeling worlds better.

IVs were not widespread until the 1950s. Today, getting an IV is a standard and basic procedure in the United States.

I mention these experiences because to me they are all examples of hope and the power of human determination.

I believe there is hope for our natural world. Humans are tenacious at finding solutions to problems. Habitat conservation could be just as common as IVs

I believe the appropriate response to the human experiment, and by extension its effect on our planet, is one of hope. I see it in an IV, I see it in a Dawn Redwood, and I see it in a redwood forest in Oakland.