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Editor's Picks

Group photo at Harvard Herbarium
Taxonomists Huddle at Harvard
The Harvard University Herbaria hosted a novel Oak Taxonomy...
Jeannine Cavender-Bares | Apr 21, 2026
Morgan and friends in Argentina
Argentine Oak Collections through Italian Eyes
Visits to three collections of Quercus in Buenos Aires...
Morgan Santini | Apr 05, 2026
Michel Duhart and Paco Garin at Jardín Botánico Wilson, Costa Rica
In Memoriam: Michel Duhart (1923–2026)
On April 1st, the very day he turned 103, a great friend...
Francisco Garin Garcia | Apr 05, 2026

Plant Focus

Quercus orocantabrica
Species Spotlight: Quercus orocantabrica Rivas Mart., Penas, T.E.Díaz & Llamas
Roderick Cameron and Carlos Vila-Viçosa give an account of this intriguing species from northwestern Iberia with a complex taxonomic and...
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Climate Change and Conservation

By Charles Snyers ... | November 29, 2015

Tomorrow, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change COP21 opens in Paris.  A couple of days ago, I came across an essay published by Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom, that I found quite interesting.  The essay "Carbon Capture: Has climate change made it harder for people to care about conservation?"was published a few months ago in The New Yorker.  It can be found online here. 

Franzen refers to Woody Allen’s movie Annie Hall, when young Alvy Singer stopped doing his homework because "the universe is expanding." Likewise, our focus on climate change prevents shorter-term conservation intitiatives, writes Franzen. This essay stirred a lot of controversy.