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Author Talk: Mike Tidwell on The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue

A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street

Come hear local author Mike Tidwell discuss his newly published book and how we can care for our trees and respond to climate change impacts in our own neighborhood.

Mike Tidwell, founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, is the author of The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street.

Tidwell’s presentation on the book will be followed by a moderated discussion with Stella Tarnay, Executive Director of Capital Nature and a Cleveland Park resident. Many of the neighborhood’s trees are facing the same challenges as those on Willow Avenue in Takoma Park. The discussion will highlight actions that residents can take to respond to climate impacts on our local canopy, along with other neighborhood-based responses to climate change.

This event includes an audience Q & A and book signing. Copies of the book will be available for sale.

Registration is optional but encouraged to guarantee a seat.

Description of Mike Tidwell's book:

"A riveting and elegant story of climate change on one city street, full of surprises and true stories of human struggle and dying local trees - all against the national backdrop of 2023's record heat domes and raging wildfires and hurricanes. In 2023, author and activist Mike Tidwell decided to keep a record for a full year of the growing impacts of climate change on his one urban block right on the border with Washington, DC. A love letter to the magnificent oaks and other trees dying from record heat waves and bizarre rain, Tidwell's story depicts the neighborhood's battle to save the trees and combat climate change: The midwife who builds a geothermal energy system on the block, the Congressman who battles cancer and climate change at the same time, and the Chinese-American climate scientist who wants to bury billions of the world's dying trees to store their carbon and help stabilize the atmosphere. The story goes beyond ailing trees as Tidwell chronicles people on his block sick with Lyme disease, a church struggling with floods, and young people anguishing over whether to have kids, all in the same neighborhood and all against the global backdrop of 2023's record heat domes and raging wildfires and hurricanes. Then there's Tidwell himself who explores the ethical and scientific questions surrounding the idea of "geoengineering" as a last-ditch way to save the world's trees - and human communities everywhere - by reflecting sunlight away from the planet. No book has told the story of climate change this way: hyper local, full of surprises, full of true stories of life and death in one neighborhood. The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue is a harrowing and hopeful proxy for every street in America and every place on Earth."

If you would like to request an accommodation, please contact dcplaccess@dc.gov at least one week prior to the program.

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