Thus, if Metasequoia is similarly acidic, it may have been preserved by being flooded with slightly alkaline water. Later, when the site became colder and drier, some cellulose degradation would have occurred as the pH became somewhat more acidic. But since chemical processes are very temperature dependent, this degradation would have become extremely slow or halted entirely as the polar ice caps formed. Lessons learned The above scenario involves a great deal of speculation. What is not in doubt, however, is that lush forests once thrived where human habitation is currently either marginal or completely untenable.
Landscapes are capable of sustaining enormous change over time.
Deserts in North Africa and the Middle East, like the Arctic desert I visited last summer, once supported similarly rich forests. And areas that we are speedily denuding of trees today may yet survive our own culture, if not our species. The earth's evolutionary capacity should not inspire a cynical or laissez-faire attitude toward ecological destruction, but it should help us clarify what we are trying to sustain and for whom. This article is adapted from one that is scheduled to appear in Woodenboat magazine. Beginning in January, the peripatetic professor Jagels will be taking a year's sabbatical in Honduras, from whence we look forward to receiving more intriguing reports.