Non-fiction Audiobook Review: Guardians of the Trees

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. One of the areas I often read in is natural history or ecology. In this case, the ecological survival of the planet. Sometimes what I read gives me hope. Sometimes it reminds me that it may already be too late. This book did both.

 

Title: Guardians of the Trees: A Journey of Hope Through Healing the Planet
Author: Kinari Webb, M.D.
Publication info: Macmillan Audio, 2021, 11 hours. Original Flatiron Books 2021, 304 pages.
Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb (Goodreads):
When Kinari Webb first traveled to Indonesian Borneo at 21 to study orangutans, she was both awestruck by the beauty of her surroundings and heartbroken by the rainforest destruction she witnessed. As she got to know the local communities, she realized that their need to pay for expensive healthcare led directly to the rampant logging, which in turn imperiled their health and safety even further. Webb realized her true calling was at the intersection of medicine and conservation.

After graduating with honors from the Yale School of Medicine, Webb returned to Borneo, listening to local communities about their solutions for how to both protect the rainforests and improve their lives. Founding wo non-profits, Health in Harmony in the U.S. and ASRI in Indonesia, Webb and her local and international teams partnered with rainforest communities,building a clinic, developing regenerative economies, providing educational opportunities, and dramatically transforming the region. But just when everything was going right, Webb was stung by a deadly box jellyfish and would spend the next four years fighting for her life, a fight that would lead her to rethink everything. Was she ready to expand her work to a global scale and take climate change head on?

Full of hope and optimism, Webb takes us on an exhilarating, galvanizing journey across the world, sharing her passion for the natural world and for humanity. In our current moment of crisis, Guardians of the Trees is an essential roadmap for moving forward and the inspiring story of one woman’s quest to heal the world. 

My Review:
This book was enlightening, eye-opening, encouraging, and ultimately discouraging. That last comes not so much from the book as from the direction things have gone since she wrote it (presumably around 2020). One thing that definitely caught my attention is the powerful argument Webb makes for the connection between human health and environmental health. We all know that environmental degradation makes people less healthy (despite some people currently claiming and ruling otherwise, this is pretty well proven). What I hadn't realized was the cost on the environment of trying to achieve human health.

When Webb uncovered the biggest motivation for individuals to log the rainforests of Borneo, she found it was to pay for medical care (including challenging transportation to where the care was). That led to setting up a radical model for delivering and paying for care, one that undeniably requires the wealthy and carbon-emitting world to pitch in. But the system works.

The account of Webb's life and research makes a fascinating read. I may not wholly sympathize with some aspects of her spiritual journey, but I do admire her absolute dedication to the project. There's definitely food for thought there. And there's a call to arms, as well.

My Recommendation: 
Read the book to learn about Indonesia, read it to learn about the importance of the rainforest, or read it to get inspired to fight the good fight. Or just read it for the story of an interesting life well lived.



FTC Disclosure: I checked Guardians of the Forest out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  


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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

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