The Lost Rainforests of Britain
In The Lost Rainforests of Britain, Guy Shrubsole explores ecosystems long diminished in the British Isles - it may be a discovery for you to learn the UK has rainforests!
Staggeringly, twenty per cent of Great Britain was once populated with temperate rainforests, also known as Atlantic or Celtic rainforests.
Clearing for agriculture, tourism, industry, misunderstanding, and even forestry means these ancient and valuable rainforests are now slivers of their former selves surviving on acreages rather than the hectares they once occupied.
Guy's exploration ranges from personal discovery of these rainforests to what they are, what's happened to them, research into historical champions and villains of wildlife, to what can be done. It's a narrative mixing an objective outlook cataloguing the research, contributing to that body of knowledge, and personal discovery and struggles. As Guy discovers more, he deliberates over the best methods for protecting these ecosystems and how to create the space they need to do more than eke out an existence.
About Guy
Guy Shrubsole is a statistician, researcher, and environmentalist. He moved to Devon and, in doing so, began to discover the elusive temperate rainforest, which would have been a common sight through the South West of England.
In the book, Guy recounts his growth as an environmentalist, starting as a child who drew banners for Save the Rainforest campaigns. Later, as an adult and having found that rainforests in need of help exist in Britain as in Brazil, he points out his naivety in trying to save something thousands of miles away that was all but forgotten by the masses and is ignored here in the UK.
More importantly, than what Guy does professionally, he's a private citizen whose concern and interest in the UK's natural world has led him down this path to educate himself and spread the word of his findings.
Guy's knowledge has been growing and shaping. But, he admits in the book to not being an expert in plants, mosses, and lichens. He's just like us all - learning. Except, he's paired his professional experience as a researcher and writer with his newly found passion to simply do for rainforests in the UK.
What about the lost rainforests?
Temperate rainforests are unusual beasts - requiring lots of moisture, wet, and temperatures that are neither too hot nor too cold. And, as it turns out - the west coast of Blighty and the British Isles are some of the best conditions for these rainforests to proliferate. If only we'd let them.
These beautiful, silvery, gnarled, ancient spaces are home to oak, birch, ash, pine, and hazel. Living on these species are carpets of mosses and lichens.
There is deep reverence throughout the book. Documents centuries old and the stalwarts of British ecology and rainforests are regularly referenced - the Oliver Rackham's, Dominick DellaSala's, Dr Christopher Ellis', and Jon Moses- guiding our compass and ensuring we don't wander off.
Life, in its many forms, feeds off and spills over each other in our temperate rainforests
Of course, Guy is a researcher. But, this isn't a work of mere fact assemblage following deep research. There is more to the story. Guy has assessed what and who he feels best represents authoritative voices. After that, it's clear he's looking for answers as he critically addresses the deploring state of awareness that we collectively hold of these tremendously beneficial, ancient, and mysterious rainforests.
On top of the documents scoured, Guy and his modern-day Watson (his partner Louisa) traverse the UK to explore these landscapes while tracking down the professional and passionate authorities to further add understanding. Guy isn't just looking backwards into the past to see what's been said. He's using the past to form necessary questions to ask today.
Guy's Connection to Protect Earth
We hope the name Guy Shrubsole means something to our Protect Earth family. Guy was the lynchpin key to helping us buy High Wood in Liskeard - you can read about it on pages 172-173!
Guy discovered the land for sale, even found a buyer, and then managed to find Phil - Protect Earth's Chair - to take over management all within a week before the sale closed. To say that Guy moves faster than the Duchy of Cornwall is an understatement (an inside joke you'll get once you read the book)!
To Sum Up
Of course, the culprit for this vast downsizing is ourselves. But Guy never directly points the finger at anyone. His is an educational and proactive line as the book walks through his personal discovery of temperate rainforests and becomes a guide to helping readers discover.
The UK's temperate rainforests have received a tiny amount of attention. Guy tracks down and looks at sewing together the disparate information on these ecosystems. Guy quotes Dr Robin Wall Kimmerer, "the already gorgeous world becomes even more beautiful the closer you look."
There is something within this book for everyone - whether knowledgeable of the rainforests au Angleterre or keeping in step with Guy in discovering these rare spaces.
In all this discourse on what's happened to our forgotten ghost woods and what is being done, you might wonder, "What is Guy's solution?" Well, you'll have to read the book to discover for yourself!
To buy the book or see if Guy is appearing near you, click here.
