Is there still time to change the ending?
The situation with man-caused climate change is indeed extremely complex, with elements of blame diffused internationally. It would take an extraordinary "surge" in worldwide understanding, cooperation, and commitment that I haven't seen in my own 63 years. I am not optimistic about this.

Sent by Peter Garrett | 11:13 AM ET | 10-29-2007

Listening to Ketzel Levine's story about the sugar maples of New England, I was instantly transported from my home in Oregon -- where bright red vine maples dot the landscape -- back to my childhood in Etna, New Hampshire. I grew up in a 200-year-old farmhouse on 100 acres, a few of which were populated by a number of giant sugar maples. With the help of a nearby farmer -- and before the old sugar house collapsed under the weight of a heavy snow -- my parents would boil down the sap on huge pans over a raoring wood fire. After school, I would clamp on my cross-country skis, and head to the sugar house for a warm, sweet draught of partially-boiled down sap. Today, the quality of the syrup has diminished from "extra fancy" to "medium amber," but I still look forward to receiving my yearly supply in that familiar beige jug, bearing the Old Man in the Mountain on its label. May the fate of that old man not portend the future of those majestic old trees!

Sent by Deborah Morgan Olsen | 12:07 PM ET | 10-29-2007

I've bookmarked Talking Plants, the blog! I heard Morning Edition today and it lead me here, where I've been enjoying the lush images from today's post as well as ones from the recent past (but I read it for the articles, honest!) Thanks, Ms. Levine for your artistry.

Sent by Judy Wallace, Health Patio | 12:45 PM ET | 10-29-2007

Ketzel--I have been meaning to email you to tell you have much a look forward to your pieces on NPR. I remember you as a visiting guest on Saturday morning's Weekend Edition and it's great to see how you have bloomed ;-). You are a very gifted writer and have such an interesting painterly view of the world and you do such a wonderful job of using colorful, evocative words to convey imagery to the listener.
Keep up the great work!!!
Jenny Gardiner
www.jennygardiner.net

Sent by jenny gardiner | 1:35 PM ET | 10-29-2007

I've heard that a newly arrived pest from Eurasia is also threatening sugar maples. That makes American Elm, American chestnut, hemlock, butternut, ash of all sorts, white pine (blister rust stunts but doesn't kill them), flowering dogwood, Port Orford Cedar and some others I can't remember, all threatened by imported diseases, bugs or fungi. What's going to be left in our woods come 2100? What's being done to stem the flow of exotic pests for which our forests have no resistence? On top of global warming and the general loss of forest diversity through some timber management practices. It maybe all downhill from here.

Sent by Andy | 3:02 PM ET | 10-29-2007

Sugar maples, know them well.Used to carry buckets from tree to tree, haul them back to a three pot fire , starter cooker and finisher.Global warming , pollution , infestation, are all aspects of a global economy where poor countries supply rich ones, or at least the well off citizens, with goods. If we're lucky the cost to transport such materials will become too costly before the breaking point and products such as shoes,clothes et al will be homegrown . Can anyone make shoes?

Sent by dave bell ,thunder bay on. ca. | 7:58 PM ET | 10-29-2007

Why use the right wing code words "climate change" when you mean global warming? Anyone who is interested in how the Republican Party has attempted to neutralize the scientific evidence on this should read about the campaign run by Frank Lutz at http://www.luntzspeak.com/memo.html. How about getting back to calling things what they are? I think it was Plato called it 'rectification of terminology.'

Sent by LEK | 9:59 AM ET | 10-31-2007

I'm certainly not expert enough to say it's ONLY warming that's creating freak storms -- snow, rain, hurricanes -- winds at unexpected times of year.

Sent by ketzel levine | 11:58 AM ET | 10-31-2007

This is not a political party issue. Fault can be traced back to some pretty dumb positions supported by both Dems and Repub???s. For that matter, everyone else that has a drum to beat.
Bottom line, we have not been very good stewards of this planet AND there are some natural cycles occurring which impact our world in ways we don???t yet understand.
During the ???little ice age???, the failure of grain based food crops in Europe led to the deaths of many innocent people because some self appointed know it all pronounced that these people were responsible for the lack of rain, excess of rain , heat or cold which caused the harvest to fail and if they were eleminated things would be hunky dory. We are again pointing fingers and looking for someone to sacrifice. We don???t know, conclusively, that any one thing is the Genesis of the current changes. However, everyone has a theory and if you don???t adhere to their's, you???re the enemy.
For example:
Ducks Unlimited buys and maintains wetlands to keep them from being drained and developed which would result in the loss of habitat for millions of birds. PITA hammers them because they kill ducks and geese.
Anglers report on and monitor millions of miles of rivers and streams while adhering to the catch and keep only what you can eat or catch and release philosophy. Wildlife groups tell the children their daddies are fish murders.
Land management people want to conduct controlled burns to reduce the fuel loading in the forests which also lessens the secverity of wildfires. Environmentalists object to any burning because they create green house gases and destroy animal habitat. On the other hand, how many animals and habitat are destroyed and how many toxic chemicals are released into the atmosphere when 1,200, million dollar houses and cars are incinerated like in California?
Wind farms are promoted as a clean/green way to produce electricity. The autobahn society wants them torn down because they are killing migrating birds.
A nuclear plant can replace several coal plants and their generation of millions of tons of carbon dioxide and heavy metal emissions. But no one wants a glow in the dark plant in their back yard.
Who is wrong and who is right?
Outside of a very few cultures, when, in our recorded history, have Homo Sapiens done anything outside of what they felt was best for themselves right now?
There is no one answer, but a lot of small things we can do. Such as; Buy only autos with no more than four cylinders; Obey the speed limit; Ttake it easy on the accelerator; Leave early so you don???t have to dump gas at every light to get ahead of the car in front of you. And God help us, carpool or use mass transit at least one day a week. try singing one chorus of Alice's restruant. You old hippies know the story.

Sent by Dan Henkel | 2:49 PM ET | 10-31-2007