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#environment

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Common Sparrow

Today's book recommendation for April's environmental book theme is "Nature All Around Us: A Guide to Urban Ecology", edited by Beatrix Beisner, Christian Messier, and Luc-Alain Giraldeau (2012).

This little book is basically a beginner's guide to the science of ecology, in concise well-ordered chapters. What makes it particularly readable is that all of the cases and examples are taken from the familiar life of the urban environment which so many of us experience all around us every day.

If we think ecological concepts can only be encountered in wilderness settings, this book shows us how to understand the same concepts in examples as ordinary as a rotting apple core, a scurrying squirrel, a raucous gull, and a maligned dandelion.

Through examining the common environment which we tend to overlook, we are shown how to see the links which make up an ecosystem, and how the smaller systems interact with each other in a whole.

At the zoo where I work, we have an program for teenagers called the Urban Ecologist program. It introduces teenagers to careers in environmental science, through hands-on ecological experience in the local parks, river, and neighborhoods.

This book is a good intoduction to those kinds of learning opportunities to be found around all of us, right in our own local neighborhoods. We can each design our own urban ecologist program with this book as our starting point.

Link to book:
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/b

University of Chicago PressNature All Around UsIt’s easy to stand in awe of a city’s impressive skyline, marveling at its buildings reaching for the clouds and its vast network of roadways and train lines crisscrossing in every direction. It can often seem like everything in a city is man-made, all concrete, steel, and glass. But even the asphalt jungle is not all asphalt—a sidewalk’s cracks are filled with nature, if we know where and how to look. To aid us in this quest is Nature All Around Us, which will help us to recognize (and look after) the natural world we traipse through in our daily lives.Nature All Around Us uses the familiar—such as summer Sundays humming with lawn mowers, gray squirrels foraging in planters, and flocks of pigeons—in order to introduce basic ecological concepts. In twenty-five short chapters organized by scale, from the home to the neighborhood to the city at large, it offers a subtle and entertaining education in ecology sure to inspire appreciation and ultimately stewardship of the environment. Various ecological concepts that any urban dweller might encounter are approachably examined, from understanding why a squirrel might act aggressively towards its neighbor to how nutrients and energy contained within a discarded apple core are recycled back into the food chain. Streaming through the work is an introduction to basic ecology, including the dangers of invasive species and the crucial role played by plants and trees in maintaining air quality.Taken as a whole, Nature All Around Us is an unprecedented field guide to the ecology of the urban environment that invites us to look at our towns, cities, and even our backyards through the eyes of an ecologist. It is an entertaining, educational, and inspiring glimpse into nature in seemingly unnatural settings, a reminder that we don’t have to trek into the wild to see nature—we just have to open our eyes.
#BookRecommendations#Nature#Environment
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