Diana Beresford-Kroeger’s early life reads like the stuff of myths, or at least the most heart-wrenching of Disney movies. Orphaned at 13, she bounced around southern Ireland to stay with extended family, an eccentric bunch of highly educated aristocrats who schooled her in math, astronomy and the art of Celtic plant medicine.
After collecting a few degrees—including Ph.D.s in biology and biochemistry—Beresford-Kroeger gained international recognition as a champion for the world’s forests, doing for trees, some argue, what Jane Goodall did for chimps. In addition to films and sold-out talks, the rock-star botanist’s advocacy includes nine books, the latest of which is Our Green Heart, a capstone project that encourages each Earthling to plant one tree per year.
For Maclean’s, I spoke to Beresford-Kroeger about saving the trees and living the simple life from her home in rural Merrickville, Ontario. She was on a break from stockpiling firewood for the winter.
—Katie Underwood, managing editor
