In the last five years that Dr. Kress spent writing a book on the trees of North America, it was the warmest on record as the planet endured the highest temperatures it has experienced for thousands, if not millions, of years as a result of human activities. Why have so many humans altered their relationship to Nature and become destructive to the Earth’s environments, especially over the last three hundred years? The lack of respect and disregard for the natural world by a significant segment of our society has never been greater. This book and this talk are aimed at helping us regain a relationship and respect for Nature through our connection to trees. Topics will include the value of trees, the ecology and evolution of trees, the diversity of trees, and the conservation of trees.

W. John Kress is a Distinguished Scientist and Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. He formerly served as the Interim Under Secretary for Science at the Smithsonian and Director of Science in the Grand Challenges Consortia. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Vermont Biodiversity Alliance, a coalition of individuals, educators, businesses, conservation organizations, and state agencies, which have banded together to conserve the living organisms and habitats in our state and on our planet. Kress received his B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Duke University, where he studied tropical biology, ethnobotany, evolution, and ecology. His current research is focused on plant evolution, conservation, and biodiversity. Supplementing his 300 scientific and popular papers are his books Plant Conservation: A Natural History Approach; The Weeping Goldsmith; The Ornaments of Life: Coevolution and Conservation in the Tropics; and Living in the Anthropocene: Earth in the Age of Humans. His most recent book Smithsonian Trees of North America has just been published by Yale University Press. Dr. Kress lives in Dorset, Vermont, with his wife, Lindsay L. Clarkson, M.D.