After a well attended party Friday night, a late night reorganizing gear, and a morning cleaning the last items out of my old house, the trip began. Seven friends joined me for the first section of the ride, a trip from Palo Alto up highway 9 to skyline drive.
We biked foothill expressway, and then cut through neighborhoods of multimillion dollar houses likely financed by silicon valley technology stocks. We climbed highway 9, and two thousand vertical feet later all friends except Heather said their final goodbyes and rode back to Bay Area.
Riding south on skyline, Heather and I rolled up and down along the ridge with views of the ocean and Santa Cruz mountains below to the right and views of the San Jose and the Bay Area below to the left. We camped in a redwood forest and two of my (former) housemates, Mike and Teresa drove to join us.
The second day of travel took us through the coastal towns just north of Monterey. We passed by fields of strawberries, artichokes, and other high-valued crops. Following a bike path along the ocean for the final 10 miles, we arrived in Monterey at sunset. In Monterey, friends of Heather’s enjoyed diner with us and let us crash at their place.
Will Global Warming and the ensuing climate changes hurt or help Redwood Trees?
Go Dave! This is an amazing adventure and for a great cause! Get in touch with us when you are in Peru (or beforehand) and we can set you up with a couple of nights at our families house.
Abrazos,
Eben & Angelica
Response to comment 1: Redwoods have adapted to live in a certain climate. If the earth warms, the optimal climate for Redwoods may move north. If the earth warms by 2 degrees C over the next century (a low estimate), in order to stay at a constant climate, you would likely have to move 30 feet north per day in California. Redwoods, which can live to be thousands of years old, do not seem like trees that can move quickly when the climate changes.
Nonetheless, it is difficult to predict. According to a recent study on climate change in California, many pure evergreen forests are likely to be replaced by a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees, meaning that while we may not lose the redwoods, the forests would change significantly.
Other forests in California are likely more at risk. According to the same study on climate change in California, over half of the alpine forests in the Sierra Nevada will be lost due to changing climate, and wildfires will become more common.
The clear message of climate change is this: ecosystems will change, and some very significantly.