2024 Lecture
"Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future"
with Daniel Lewis
The world today is undergoing the most rapid environmental transformation in human history—from climate change to deforestation. Scientists, ethnobotanists, indigenous peoples, and collectives of all kinds are closely studying trees and their biology to understand how and why trees function individually and collectively in the ways they do. For his new book, Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future, historian Daniel Lewis went on a global journey to learn about twelve iconic trees in their habitats, including two species found in North Carolina—the longleaf pine and bald cypress. In this talk, Lewis revealed what he learned of nature and survival through all twelve and will share insights into the ways in which humans and trees are interconnected.
Daniel Lewis is the Dibner Senior Curator for the History of Science and Technology at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in Southern California, and a writer, college professor, and environmental historian. Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future was published by Simon and Schuster in March 2024.
The Lynn W. Day Distinguished Lectureship in Forest and Conservation History is sponsored by the Forest History Society, the Duke University Department of History, and Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment.
