Cancer in the United States experienced a dramatic turnaround in 1991. Prior to that year, cancer deaths had been increasing for decades, peaking at 215 deaths per 100,000 people, meaning about 1 in 4 deaths were attributed to cancer. Then it began to consistently decline, decreasing by 34% between 1991 and 2022. This amounted to an estimated 4.5 million fewer cancer deaths during that period.

For thousands of years, one tree species defined the cultural and ecological identity of what is now the American South: the longleaf pine. The forest once stretched across 92 million acres from Virginia to Texas, but about 5% of that original forest remains. It was one of North America’s richest ecosystems, and it nearly disappeared.