1. Tropical Rain Forests
By the nineteenth century, the transfer of exotic plants and the search for wild plants that might be domesticated were activities that were becoming rationalized and organized and put at the service of industrial capitalism. Collectors were sent from Europe to the farthest reaches of the earth in search of unknown species that might serve as raw material, remedy, or ornament . This enterprise, even though it was the expression of scientific and state bureaucracies, nevertheless partook of romance: It was a quest for the rare, the precious, and the danger-scented. Of all the great feats...
What Trees have to do with the Environment Perhaps no image invokes the Berkshire Taconic Landscape more strongly than the brilliant colors that splash across our majestic hills and valleys each fall. Those streaks of color appear because we have so many trees. In fact, in virtually every setting, from the swamps along the oxbows of the Housatonic River to the summits of the Taconic mountains, the dominant vegetation of our landscape is trees. But why are trees here? Why did trees grow in New England and New York, while grasses coat Oklahoma, shrubs cover the tundra, an...