For writing the scenes of Apollonia in the Sequoia Cloud Forest – which is simply a renaming of the modern Redwood National State and State Parks – I researched these magnificent trees in detail.
I’ve been lucky enough to see them once, and it was a spectacular sight; I do hope to see them again one day.
I cannot claim to be an expert on them, of course, but if asked, will they survive into the far future – my answer might be rather grim.
Despite being the tallest trees and some of the largest lifeforms on Earth, the trees are far from immortal. Even besides intensive logging – which could potentially grow worse if environmental regulations are undone in the name of fascist capitalist greed – changing climate could have devastating effects upon them.
In the short-term, the additional carbon in the air has actually benefitted the trees, allowing them to attain greater mass. Trees do, after all, actually pull much of their mass directly from the air to form their bodies.
But changing climatic patterns, especially droughts, threaten them. As soon as 2030, Redwoods around San Francisco may begin to face droughts they cannot weather.
Changing fog patterns and wildfires are also a major concern. While trees as large as the redwoods have substantial resistance to fires, they do cause severe stress, and fires can become intense enough to kill even them.
Unfortunately, these changes are highly likely to get worse, due to the volatile nature of a more energetic climate.
There may be ways that they can be saved, however. As human intervention caused climate change, so too can we act to save the redwoods. This involves fighting climate change and actively managing the conditions for fires in the forest.
Like many aspects of climate change, this is something we should have begun decades ago, and now we have a limited window. ‘Green’ capitalism is, at this point, a mere band-aid, and more severe action is needed if future generations – like Apollonia – will ever get to see the grand majesty of these trees.