Seoul’s gingko trees help absorb the carbon dioxide produced by traffickhanh nghia tran/Alamy
Becoming EarthFerris Jabr (Picador (UK); Penguin Random House (US))
Ginkgos were first planted in Seoul about 800 years ago. Today, over 100,000 of these giant trees take in carbon dioxide spewed out by the city’s traffic, exhaling the oxygen humans need to live. It is a coexistence with which we are familiar, yet it exemplifies a principle beyond daily experience.
In Becoming Earth: How our planet came to life, science writer Ferris Jabr weaves a tapestry out of the complex relationships that…