Out on a Limb (Paperback). This item is unavailable.Out on a Limb (Paperback)

It's often said that trees are the only form of city infrastructure that actually increase in value and capacity over time. So why have so many North American cities historically underfunded their care and maintenance? And why do we continue to indiscriminately mow down trees – and entire urban forests? 

Out On A Limb answers these questions and more, as it explores the secret lives and extraordinary infrastructure benefits of trees in cities, the critical role urban forests can play in increasing climate resiliency, and how grassroots organizations can empower city leaders to invest in the urban trees and forests we love–and need.

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Erna Buffie is a writer, environmental activist and documentary filmmaker, who worked with CBC’s The Nature of Things for more than 20 years. Her award-winning films include, among others: Smarty Plants - The Secret World of Plant Behaviour and The Changing Sea. Past chair of Trees Please Winnipeg Coalition, she now writes regular opinion editorials for The Winnipeg Free Press on politics and the environment. Her novel, Let Us Be True, was nominated for the Margaret Laurence Fiction Prize and reissued by Shadowpaw Press in 2024. That year, she was also awarded the Winnipeg 150 medal for her community work, as well as the Council of Women’s Celebrating Women Award. A self-professed tree hugger, she and her partner live in Winnipeg, under the shade of a towering boulevard elm, with their Shih Tzu, Ollie, and spend their summers in a small lakeside cabin tucked into the boreal forest.