Program 712: Party of Trees; Vanishing Asia; Living with Caribou

Journalist Zach Saint George follows the slow motion migration of several North American tree species facing environmental threats.

Kevin Kelly describes a massive photography project to document vanishing traditions across Asia. 

And writer Seth Kantner explains what he loves about living off the land in the wide open spaces of northwest Alaska, near the Arctic Circle.

It's on this week's Earth Day edition of Travel with Rick Steves.

• Journalist Zach St. George, author of "The Journeys of Trees"  (W. W. Norton)
• Futurist Kevin Kelly, senior maverick at Wired magazine
• Seth Kantner, author of  "A Thousand Trails Home: Living with Caribou" (Mountaineers Books)

• Zach St. George is the author of "The Journeys of Trees."
• Zach writes for Yale Environment 360 on the impact climate change is having on plant life around the world.
• Kevin Kelly is a "senior maverick" at Wired magazine. His book, "Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier" will be released May 2, 2023. He also organized a multi-year photography project called "Vanishing Asia," to document changes to traditions in 35 nations, from Indonesia and the Far East to Siberia and Turkey.
• The latest book by Alaska author Seth Kantner is called "A Thousand Trails Home." It explores the intertwined lives of the Inupiat people of Northwest Alaska, the Western Arctic caribou herd, and the risks to the Arctic's habitat and culture.
• Seth links to articles he's written and talks he's given about Arctic Alaska on his website.
• Rena Priest served a term as Washington State poet laureate from 2021-2023.

• Deep and Wide, "Easy Rider," Café del Mar, vol. 7 (collection) / Musicrama-Koch
• Uman, "Bird's Eye View (Rhythmic Remix)," Traveler '99 (collection) / Six Degrees Records
• Mamou Prairie Band, "Blue Runner," Catch My Hat / Swallow
• Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny, Richard Burmer, "The Breathing Stone," Western Spaces / Chameleon
• Third Force, "We Should Be Together," Panorama, disc 1 (sampler) / Higher Octave
• James Reynolds, "Whispers of Light," True North (collection) / Miramar
• Hobo Jim, "Athabascan Fiddler," Alaska's Hobo Jim: A Collection / (self-released)
• Maggini Quartet, "Alla Marcia (Britten)," Green and Pleasant Land (collection)  / Naxos
• Minnesota Orchestra, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, cond., "Dance Suite: Moderato (Bartok)," Dalí:Música Surreal (collection) / Museum Music
• Paul Winter, "Gates of the Mountains," Prayer for the Wild Things / Living Music
• * Venice Baroque Orchestra, Giuliano Carmignola, violin, "Violin Concerto in E, No. 1: Allegro, 'La Primavera' from ‘The Four Seasons' (Vivaldi)," A Classical Odyssey (collection) / NARM
• Aphex Twin, "Z-Twig," Selected Ambient Works, vol. 2 / Sire-Warner Bros.
• Zbigniew Preisner, "Saigon," The Beautiful Country (soundtrack) / Mellowdrama Records
• Kyoko Okamoto, koto, "Sakura," Sakura (collection) / Smithsonian Folkways
• Jean-Pierre Limborg, "Phnom Penh," Les Larmes d'Angkor / Origins
• Hexagon Ensemble, "Quartet on Turkmenian Themes: My Love Has Gone (Sergei Vasilenko)," The Russian Connection / Etcetera
• Aziza, "Hayat," East 2 West: Global Departures from Istanbul, Flight 001 (collection) / DoubleMoon-EMI Records
• Hector Zazou and Swara, "Attainable Border: East," In the House of Mirrors / Crammed Disc
• * Nacho Sotomayor, "Sometimes," Nirvana Lounge by Claude Challe & Ravin (collection) / Challo Music (France)
• Chari Chari, "Aurora," Samba Sunset (collection) / Nettwerk
• Apollo Chamber Orchestra, JoAnn Faletta, cond., "Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing-diminished bell (John Luther Adams)," John Luther Adams: Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing / New World Records
• Sarah James (Gwich'in) and Dean Everson, "Caribou Skin Hut Dance," Arctic Refuge: A Gathering of Tribes / Soundings of the Planet
• George McConkey and Bob Hamilton, "Arctic Wind," Yukon Collection (1995) / Caribou Records
• Cha-Das-Ska-Dum Which-ta-lum (Lummi) and Dean Evenson, "Cry of the Forest," Arctic Refuge: A Gathering of Tribes (collection) / Soundings of the Planet
• Medicine Dream, "Medicine Dream," Identity / (self-released)

• Rick calls today's program an "Earth Day edition of Travel with Rick Steves" in the billboard.
• Zach St George details environmental difficulties facing four species of trees in North America in the segment A interview.
• At 30:46, Kevin Kelly says Mongolia is the one country that embraces the needs of its nomadic citizens.
• At 49:45, Seth mentions a few of the clients he's guided on photography expeditions near Kotzebue, including for a men's wear company "last year" during a winter storm.  At 51:17 he adds that hiking there in June "is magical."
• At 55:94, Seth calls the Northwest Arctic Borough "ground zero" for climate change, at a rate two to three times as is felt in the rest of the world, while explaining how the impacts are not immediately evident to the casual observer who drops in to visit. 
• Seth, at 56:12, suggests Rick visit the region to witness the caribou migration "in September, October."
• At 57:15, Rick introduces Rena Priest's poem by mentioning she has just-concluded her term as Washington State Poet Laureate.