I have a new piece in The Daily Beast travel section (“Climate Change Could Turn Our National Parks Into Natural Disasters“) on the way climate change is re-shaping and destroying national parks.
“At 10,000 feet above Maui, near the dormant Haleakala caldera, is a 90-year old plant. This silver sphere of leaves shaped like swords (aptly named silversword) has waited nearly a century for this one epic moment—sending up a nearly six foot, bright green stalk covered in 600 purple flowers.
With this splendid crown resting on its aging head and its seeds scattered to the wind, it dies.
That it made it this far is becoming rare for its kind, though being in Hawaii’s protected Haleakala National Park has helped it survive…..”