Word: parker
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...film centers on a couple, Parker and Dan, and Dan’s long-time best friend Joe, as the three go skiing for a weekend. They try to squeeze in one last run at the end of the day, but a mix up leaves them stranded on a ski lift. The trio soon realize they are trapped, as no one will return to the mountain for days. They are too high to safely jump and it’s too dangerous for them to climb across the lift cable, leaving them in a seemingly hopeless predicament...
However, while the movie may be a bit too heavy-handed at times, the emotional core of the film is both unexpected and effective. Surprisingly, the central focus is not on Parker and Dan’s relationship, but instead on the evolution of Parker and Joe’s friendship. Joe, disgruntled that Parker monopolized Dan’s time since they started dating, resents her presence. While stuck in the chair lift, the two are forced to grow and support each other. The two develop genuine rapport with one another, and it is surprisingly touching...
Forest biologists already know that, all things being equal, trees grow more rapidly when they're young, then taper off as they mature, and that you can chart the standard curve of growth for a given forest type by looking at the kind of snapshots Parker and his colleagues used. It takes only a couple of years of measurements to figure out the overall growth curve. This study has been going on for 22 years, conducted largely by technicians and volunteers trained by the Smithsonian scientists. "We have a huge corps of volunteers," says Parker. "It's not rocket science...
Over that 22-year span, Parker and the others noticed that the growth curve gradually bends upward, meaning the regrowth was accelerating - a hint, anyway, that controlled experiments involving enriched CO2 levels were indeed a reasonable if rough proxy of what would likely happen in the real world as CO2 levels mount. Whether the forests' growth spurt might actually impact global warming by absorbing and storing more carbon is doubtful. While it's true that more trees suck up more carbon, they also produce more dark, heat-absorbing foliage, which somewhat counteracts the benefit. In addition, one extra tree...
...Smithsonian experiment will continue to see what happens next in terms of forest growth, says Parker. His suspicion: because the trees aren't getting a boost in nutrients to match the extra CO2 and warmer climate, "it probably can't go on much too much longer...