GREEN

A basic introduction to the role plants play in supplying oxygen and trapping excess carbon dioxide.

Davies has a simple message to deliver. To get there, she first takes a close look at leaf structure and photosynthesis, then goes back four billion years to retrace the development of life from the first green microorganisms to the Carboniferous Period and the formation of fossil fuels. Today, she writes, our planet is covered with “great green nations” of plants that work with fauna and fungi to lock back up the carbon we’ve thoughtlessly released over the past few centuries, which is heating the planet and “messing up the weather.” But those natural communities, threatened by habitat destruction and plastic pollution, need our assistance. Readers will have to look elsewhere for hints about concrete ways to help, but our urgent need to act comes through loud and clear. Over a running timeline, Sutton fashions land- and seascapes teeming with plants and animals (or, in one urban vista, cars and smoke-belching factories) on the way to final views of racially diverse children climbing a tree, including a light-skinned youngster who stays behind to reflect on the author’s conclusion: “GREEN is the most important color in the world.”

A cogent reminder of the significance of plants, for oxygen breathers of all species.