Books for Earth Day
Gardens are the vanguard of positive change, modern-day crucibles for ideas and innovation that provide solutions to some of our most persistent problems, from loneliness and illness, to flooding and drought. Ecologically minded plant-people and pioneering gardeners around the world are harnessing the power of nature to find small-scale strategies to make powerful change. This is no longer just about aesthetics, but what nature-inspired gardens can do, whether that means save water, transform mental health, bridge social divides, educate children, or reimagine polluting industries.
Celebrating both the garden and gardener as integral players in a healthier future, Gardens Can Save the World presents a series of strategies that will help the reader imagine the potential that lies in the garden through 65 projects that showcase how gardens are working to repair, heal, empower, nourish, and reimagine. Including both popular and lesser-known gardens at a variety of scales, the book also includes profiles of ten leading garden changemakers from around the world. Plus, there’s tools to take action—with a glossary of plants, materials, and techniques, gardeners can start right away applying these lessons in their own gardens.
From a New York Times bestselling author, a wildlife ecology expert and environmental advocate provides readers with the next step in their ecological journey.
In How Can I Help?, Tallamy tackles the questions commonly asked at his popular lectures and shares compelling and actionable answers that will help gardeners and homeowners take the next step in their ecological journey. Topics range from ecology, evolution, biodiversity and conservation to restoration, native plants, invasive species, pest control, and supporting wildlife at home. Tallamy keenly understands that most people want to take part in conservation efforts but often feel powerless to do so as individuals. But one person can make a difference, and How Can I Help? details how.
Whether by reducing your lawn, planting a handful of native species, or allowing leaves to sit untouched, you will be inspired and empowered to join millions of other like-minded people to become the future of backyard conservation.
In The Contemporary Cottage Garden, longtime gardener Pamela Hubbard expertly walks the gardener through what it takes to grow in the cottage garden style—where flowers and vegetables are intermingled in a casual display of colorful brilliance—while also meeting the needs of the modern world in an era of increased weather extremes. An abundance of beautiful photos by Rob Cardillo highlights Hubbard’s cottage garden in Pennsylvania, where she has integrated invaluable techniques for cottage gardening in a contemporary way. Gardeners at any stage of their gardening journey will find invaluable insight on:
- Gardening for increased biodiversity and pollinators
- Creating a cottage meadow garden
- Designing a gravel garden for drought-prone areas
- Creating rain gardens for wet areas and fire-wise gardens for arid regions
- Gardening to reduce stress and promote healing
- Instilling a love for the environment in children by creating a children’s garden
- Creating a sensory garden
Composting is so much more than just transforming food into soil; it is deeply existential, radical, and soul-opening. And no, it’s not just for gardeners. You can compost in a bowl on your kitchen counter, or a bag under your sink, and you can compost things you’re told you can’t (although there are some things you probably shouldn’t). Everyone can compost. And even if you’re not going to compost at all, knowing about compost is engaging with a dialogue about zero waste.
With wry and brilliant writing, Cassanda Marketos brings the culture, beauty, community, and philosophy of compost to life in this one-of-a-kind, inventive work of narrative nonfiction that brings compost out of the dark ages and into the contemporary moment. Delightfully philosophical and inviting, it is an accessible guide to everything you need to know about compost, with actionable advice for beginners and experienced composters. You will learn why compost works, where to put your compost, how to pick your compost set up, the basics of decomposition, what to put in a compost pile, where to source your compost materials, and how to build a pile. With insights on what tools to consider, how to deal with odors, insects, and other critters, and transitioning your compost pile for colder weather, find easy-to-follow compost pile designs, tips on composting in small spaces, composting with worms, and how to compost things you’re always told you can’t (you just need to know how).
This book has something for everyone, at any stage in their compost journey, and includes edgy, delightful illustrations by the artist Sludge Thunder throughout. And … it’s literally compostable. Read it, follow the advice, and toss it into your compost pile.
Gravel gardening is a drought-defying, low-maintenance gardening technique in which deep-rooted, drought tolerant perennials are planted in a deep layer of gravel that suppresses weeds and conserves water. In The Gravel Garden, longtime horticulturist Jeff Epping explores the art of gravel gardening as a naturalistic approach with huge promise for the future of ecological landscaping.
Alongside 20 gorgeously photographed gardens in both the US and Europe, including Epping’s own home gravel garden in Wisconsin, the book offers insights from leading naturalistic designers such as Roy Diblik and Cassian Schmidt, as well as practical techniques for various scales and applications, from intimate home settings to expansive public and commercial spaces.
Gardeners at any scale will be inspired to create their own beautiful garden with the resilience necessary to stand up to our changing climate.
An “instant classic”, this genre-bending blend of naturalism, memoir, and social manifesto is a fascinating study for rewilding the city, the self, and society (Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author).
During the real estate crash of the late 2000s, Christopher Brown purchased an empty lot in an industrial section of Austin, Texas. The property—abandoned and full of litter and debris—was an unlikely site for a home. Brown had become fascinated with these empty lots around Austin, so-called “ruined” spaces once used for agriculture and industry awaiting their redevelopment. He discovered them to be teeming with natural activity, and embarked on a twenty-year project to live in and document such spaces. There, in our most damaged landscapes, he witnessed the remarkable resilience of wild nature, and how we can heal ourselves by healing the Earth. Beautifully written and philosophically hard-hitting, A Natural History of Empty Lots offers a new lens on human disruption and nature, offering a sense of hope among the edgelands.
“Brown lives far from any conventional battlefield, but he is surrounded by the wreckage of a different war, and he, too, finds hope in cultivating the ruins of nature…A Natural History of Empty Lots is less a departure from the nature writing tradition than a welcome addition to its edgelands.” —New York Review of Books
“The nature writing we need now.” —Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts
“Incredible” —Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist
As climate change continues to intensify, the outlook for life on Earth often seems bleak. Yet hope for the future can be found in the “rescue effect,” which is nature’s innate ability to help organisms persist during hard times. Like a thermostat starting the air conditioning when a room gets too warm, the rescue effect automatically kicks in when organisms are stressed or declining.
In The Rescue Effect, Michael Mehta Webster reveals the science behind nature’s inherent resilience, through compelling stories of species that are adapting to the changing world—including tigers in the jungles of India, cichlid fish in the great lakes of Africa, and corals in the Caribbean. In some cases, like the mountain pygmy-possum in the snowy mountains of southeast Australia, we risk losing species without intensive help from people. As observers to—and the cause of—species declines, we must choose whether and how to help, while navigating challenging questions about emerging technologies and the ethics of conservation actions.
Ultimately, Webster argues that there are good reasons to expect a bright future, because everywhere we look, we can see evidence that nature can rescue many species from extinction; and when nature alone is not up to the task, we can help. Combining rigorous research with gripping storytelling, The Rescue Effect provides the cautious optimism we need to help save life on Earth.
This middle grade edition of the groundbreaking bestseller by Doug Tallamy will inspire kids to use their backyard to help save the planet.
In Nature’s Best Hope (Young Readers’ Edition), Tallamy empowers kids to use their own yards to help combat the negative effects of climate change. He does so by breaking down complex concepts into simple terms and real-world examples that kids can easily grasp. Black and white photographs help further clarify concepts. In addition to sharing the science, Tallamy encourages kids to take direct action. Some of these ideas include planting an oak tree at home. If that’s too large of a task, he suggests they can plant asters—a beautiful flower whose pollen bees use to feed their young.
By helping the next generation see that they have power and agency over our collective future, this empowering book will drive home the positive point that kids are truly nature’s best hope.
Humans are recognized for our intelligence and creativity, but where do these stand-out smarts come from? Our celebrated brains play a role, but it turns out something else altogether unexpected is going on.
Bioinspired is a fascinating natural history of modern humankind that lays out a compelling case for Nature playing an outsized, yet unsung, role in human advancement. From the famous inventor who traveled with a dismembered ear in his suitcase, to how the internet is organized based on the human brain, to why popular music makes us get up and dance, Stier’s exploration of how various aspects of technology and culture came to be will astonish readers, one fresh revelation after another.
A paradigm-shaking analysis of our technological history and what truly drives innovation, and a guide map pointing towards enduring human prosperity, Bioinspired will sweep you up, enthrall you as the pages go cascading by, and ultimately deposit you before a profoundly new horizon.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger—a world-recognized botanist and medical biochemist—has revolutionized our understanding of the natural world with her startling insights into the hidden life of trees. In this riveting memoir, she uncovers the roots of her discoveries in her extraordinary childhood in Ireland. Soon after, her brilliant mind bloomed into an illustrious scientific career that melds the intricacies of the natural world with the truths of traditional Celtic wisdom.
To Speak for the Trees uniquely blends the story of Beresford-Kroeger’s incredible life and her outstanding achievement as a scientist. It elegantly shows us how forests can not only heal us as people but can also help save the planet.