National Geographic: The World's Largest Trees

     I read an article in National Geographic magazine called "The World's Largest Trees". It was about scientists discovering more about the old sequoia trees. The biggest one they've found is one that they named "The President" 90 years ago, and we still call it that today. It has a dead spire on its top that was struck by lightning, and a canopy that holds nearly 2 billion leaves. It has 4 large branches, each the size of a tree themselves. Though sequoias are not the largest trees in height, they make up for it in trunk width. They are also extremely old. The reason that it has survived for so long is it has simply outlived its competitors. The scientists are trying to get me to know that this tree has been studied for an extremely long time, and they have learned a lot about it.
     The scientists have done a lot of work to learn about these trees, and this is because they want to conserve them. They are telling us about this tree because they want us to become interested in things about the tree. The scientists want us to feel interested in the tree, so that no one will try to get rid of it. If people understand the tree, they will not look to use the wood for fuel or furnishings. At least that's what National Geographic wants people to feel.
     I believe that National Geographic has the right idea on this topic, but I think they could make the idea a bit more blatant. They basically just give information about the tree. I only noticed the idea because of the loaded words spruced throughout the article, but for someone who hasn't learned about that sort of thing, it might be hard to notice.