Eco reading recommendations for February
Renaturing : Small Ways to Wild the World by James Canton
Twenty years ago, James Canton moved from London to the English countryside. Behind his farm labourer's cottage was a small field with a 'for sale' sign. At first it was a site for family picnics and cricket matches with friends, but James knew that the two-acre patch of earth held more potential - as a place for nature to return and flourish.
Here is the story of how, over a number of years, he undertook a project to 'rewild' the field: digging a pond, forging meadowlands, creating habitats for birds and insects, encouraging flowers and plants that support pollinators and wildlife. Eventually what was once just a grassy space was again buzzing with life. The process raised some interesting questions.
Rewilding is about bringing a large landscape back to a natural, self-sustaining state. But that wasn't possible on the scale of a field, a garden or a window box. What if we rethought the term? What if we aimed for 'renaturing' instead? Even on the smallest of scales we can create habitats to support a greater diversity of nature.
A single window box planted with pollinator-friendly flowers can provide a mini-habitat to support honeybees; a tower block with a window box on every balcony becomes an acre of bee-friendly ecosystem.
Renaturing shows how the concept of rewilding can be adopted by us all. We can all make positive change, however large or small. We can all be involved in caring for and restoring the natural world.
You can order this book here.
Nature’s Ghosts : The World We Lost and How to Bring it Back by Sophie Ye
For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the natural world. Our activities have permanently altered the environment – for good and for bad. In Nature’s Ghosts, award-winning journalist Sophie Yeo examines how the planet would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity: from landscapes carved out by megafauna to the primeval forests that emerged following the last Ice Age, and from the eagle-haunted skies of the Dark Ages to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries.
Uncovering the stories of the people who have helped to shape the landscape, she seeks out their footprints even where it seems there are none to be found. And she explores the timeworn knowledge that can help to fix our broken relationship with the earth. Along the way, Sophie encounters the environmental detectives – archaeological, cultural and ecological – reconstructing, in stunning detail, the landscapes we have lost.
Today, the natural world is more vulnerable than ever; the footprints of humanity heavier than they have ever been. But, as this urgent book argues, from the ghosts of the past, we may learn how to build a more wild and ancient future.
You can order this book here
National Trust: Annabelle and Flower by Em Lynas
A warm, funny picture book about the circle of life - with bright neon colours
throughout! When a lonely cow called Annabelle finds a tiny flower one spring day, it brings a dance to her step and a smile to her moo. Over time, the flower grows, blooms and changes colour, until one day autumn comes and blows all the petals away. Poor Annabelle is alone again, until spring returns and she finds a new flower .
. . and another . . and another!
Explores the four seasons and the circle of life and features hopeful messages about friendship and the passing of time. Published in collaboration with the National Trust.
You can order this book here.
 | A guest post by
|