Ever green : saving big forests to save the planet / John W. Reid and Thomas E. Lovejoy.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-289) and index.

"Five stunningly large forests remain on Earth: the Taiga, extending from the Pacific Ocean across all of Russia and far-northern Europe; the North American boreal, ranging from Alaska's Bering seacoast to Canada's Atlantic shore; the Amazon, covering almost the entirety of South America's bulge; the Congo, occupying parts of six nations in Africa's wet equatorial middle; and the island forest of New Guinea, twice the size of California. These megaforests are vital to preserving global biodiversity, thousands of cultures, and a stable climate, as economist John W. Reid and celebrated biologist Thomas E. Lovejoy argue convincingly in Ever Green. Megaforests serve an essential role in decarbonizing the atmosphere--the boreal alone holds 1.8 trillion metric tons of carbon in its deep soils and peat layers, 190 years' worth of global emissions at 2019 levels--and saving them is the most immediate and affordable large-scale solution to our planet's most formidable ongoing crisis." -- Amazon.

John W. Reid is a conservationist and economist whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Atlantic, and Scientific American. Thomas E. Lovejoy was a pioneering biologist who led and championed forest conservation efforts for over fifty years.