Nature & Ecology

Across the six lessons of Reconnect with Nature: Lessons from the Natural World, author and conservationist Jennifer Verdolin draws on Indigenous traditions and contemporary science to inspire you to integrate more of the natural world into your life, no matter where you live. You’ll learn about our deep biological need for nature and about the influence that natural environments and other animals have on your day-to-day life. You’ll also be provided with activities and tools to help you be more observant about the natural world around you.

Mycelium Running is a manual for the mycological rescue of the planet. That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how. In this comprehensive guide, you’ll find chapters detailing each of these four exciting branches of what Stamets has coined “mycorestoration,” as well as chapters on the medicinal and nutritional properties of mushrooms, inoculation methods, log and stump culture, and species selection for various environmental purposes.

What can nature teach us about living together? Investigating eight symbiotic relationships trying to survive the climate and biodiversity crises, Sophie Pavelle explains why it has never been more vital for us to understand symbiosis. Symbiotic relationships regulate ecosystems, strengthen resilience and bind pivotal connections. Species living together in symbiosis is no accident – these dynamics evolved.

A revolution is taking place. Around the world, ordinary people are turning to courts seeking justice for environmental damage. At the forefront of this movement, pioneering barrister Monica Feria-Tinta advocates not only for the people fighting for their homes and livelihoods, but also for those who have no voice: for rivers, forests and endangered species.

What kind of fossils will we leave, as relics into the far future? A blizzard of new objects has suddenly appeared on Earth: plastic bottles, ballpoint pens, concrete flyways, chicken bones, cans, teabags, phones, shirts. They're produced for our comfort and pleasure then quickly discarded. This new-made treasure chest underpins our lives. But it is also giving a completely new style of fossilization to our planet. Designed to resist corrosion and decay, many will remain, petrified, as future geology.

In Slither, Stephen S. Hall presents a naturalistic, cultural, ecological, and scientific meditation on these loathed yet magnetic creatures. In each chapter, he explores a biological aspect of The Snake, such as their cold blooded metabolism and venomous nature, alongside their mythology, artistic depictions, and cultural veneration.

In Birdland, journalist and lifelong twitcher Jon Gower explores our intimate connection with the bird life around us. From the symphonic song of the wren to the clack of a puffin’s beak and from epic migrations to sunset murmurations, birds are commonplace miracles. No wonder they have inspired our artists, writers and songwriters. Whether rare or abundant, Jon Gower visits some of the best places in Britain to watch birds, searching for some species he has always wanted to see such as wryneck, dotterel and barred warbler.

Walks in the desert and journeys through Ch’an (Zen) enlightenment. Meditations on the nature of perception and on the nature of ruins. Topographies of mind and of space-time. Poetry and prose. This talismanic book is all of these and more. It is the culmination of Hinton’s philosophical adventure, deeply informed by his nearly forty years of translating and contemplating China’s ancient poets, Taoist sages, and Ch’an masters. Like Henry David Thoreau and other great literary walkers, Hinton joins philosophical meditations with a keen eye for the slightest of nature’s details.

Despite efforts to sustain civilization, humanity faces existential threats from overpopulation, globalized trade and travel, urbanization, and global climate change. In A Darwinian Survival Guide, Daniel Brooks and Salvatore Agosta offer a novel—and hopeful—perspective on how to meet these tremendous challenges by changing the discourse from sustainability to survival. Darwinian evolution, the world’s only theory of survival, is the means by which the biosphere has persisted and renewed itself following past environmental perturbations, and it has never failed, they explain.

Award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold spends nearly nine months walking the length of New Zealand on Te Araroa, fulfilling a 20-year dream. On her own, she traverses mountains, rivers, cities and plains from summer to spring, walking on through days of thick mud, blazing sun and lightning storms, and into cold, starlit nights. Along the way she encounters colourful locals and travellers who delight and inspire her.

If you live on a rapidly changing planet, you'd be wise to learn how it works. The giant old forests on a skinny stretch of land on the far west coast of North America have a lot to say about living in a twitchy world.

The story of Chicago is often likened to that of a phoenix rising out of the ashes of the Great Fire. Yet that infamous event was only part of the destruction that has shaped Chicago's identity. This unique history explores the calamities that have befallen the Windy City, such as the 1954 killer water surge that swept in on a calm summer day; the 1967 tornado that ripped through rush hour traffic; the 1886 Haymarket Square riot that put Chicago on the anarchist map; and many other acts of nature and human folly.

Your Compass for Urban Animal Rescue Cities may be built for people, but countless animals share the urban landscape—many of them vulnerable and in need of help. Even if you aren't trying to go out of your way to help them, this Guide might come in handy for when you are in the right place at the right time. Your Compass for Urban Animal Rescue is the ultimate guide for compassionate individuals ready to navigate the complexities of rescuing and protecting animals in metropolitan environments.

Deep in the forest, in places you would never think to look, are some of the most remarkable creatures. Overlooked and unsung, this is the forgotten forest: a world of glow-in-the-dark mushrooms and giant mosses, where slime moulds travel the forest in search of prey and ancient lichens live for thousands of years. Join bestselling author Robert Vennell on a walk through this fantastical forest, wandering through tales from history, science, and spirituality in search of these weird and wonderful species.

In 536 AD, the sun dimmed, the sky turned a ghostly gray, and global temperatures plummeted. Crops withered, famine spread like wildfire, and entire civilizations were thrown into chaos. Historians and scientists now recognize this year as one of the most catastrophic climate events in human history—a volcanic winter that reshaped the world.

With science now recognizing animal consciousness, intelligence, emotion and even morality, there must come an awareness of our own moral responsibilities towards other beings. But there's another reason to consider animals' well-being—because it is intertwined with our own.

Combining historical anecdotes, scientific knowledge, and personal stories, Harvesting American Ginseng celebrates the heritage of the Smoky Mountains while providing an indispensable resource for botanists, herbalists, and nature enthusiasts.

Parlare di montagna equivale a parlare dell'intera esistenza, e di come in essa si intende prendere posto. E amare la montagna significa stare al mondo con franchezza, desiderio di avventura, accortezza e spirito di solidarietà, rispetto per la vita in tutte le sue manifestazioni. Mauro Corona e Matteo Righetto danno voce a ciò che per loro la montagna rappresenta, attingendo a un ricchissimo tesoro di esperienze personali, qui condensate in brevi racconti, epigrammi fulminanti, descrizioni di paesaggi naturali di bellezza inesprimibile.

Observer l’histoire de l’humanité à partir des forêts, c’est la perspective enthousiasmante que propose le journaliste, conférencier et essayiste Laurent Testot, qui s’inscrit dans le courant assez récent et novateur de l’histoire environnementale. L’auteur retrace l’histoire de l’humanité depuis la constitution des premiers empires de l’antiquité romaine, chinoise et indienne, en passant par les sociétés médiévales et modernes et étudie le rapport que ces sociétés passées ont entretenu avec leur environnement et en particulier leurs forêts.

Der Mann, der mit den Vögeln sprach. Der Comer See in der Lombardei, eingebettet in eine imposante Gebirgslandschaft und umgeben von Palmen, Olivenbäumen und malerischen Küstenstädtchen. Seit Jahren ein touristischer Hotspot. In diesem pittoresken Szenario spielt der packende Gesellschaftsroman, in dem es um die Bedrohung der Bergwelt durch Klimawandel und menschliche Ignoranz geht. Auf einem Steilhang des Monte Croce di Muggio hoch über dem Comer See wird ein Mann angetroffen, der offenbar mit den Vögeln redet. Kurz darauf stürzt dieser Hang in die Tiefe.