Nature's Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy

Summary (edited from Amazon): Tallamy outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation. Nature’s Best Hope shows how homeowners everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. Because this approach relies on the initiatives of private individuals, it is immune from the whims of government policy. Even more important, it’s practical, effective, and easy—you will walk away with specific suggestions you can incorporate into your own yard.

Reviews:
Virginia Native Plant Society: https://vnps.org/book-review-natures-best-hope-by-doug-tallamy/
TPR Newsmedia: https://tbrnewsmedia.com/book-review-natures-best-hope/

Interviews and Webinars:
Away to Garden: https://awaytogarden.com/how-conservation-starts-in-your-yard-doug-tallamy-on-natures-best-hope/
Land Conservancy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3X6wWCWm0A
Garden for Wildlife Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDRGryX1uVI
National Wildlife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY4aV5hqkxY

MAREA: https://themarea.org/event/douglas-tallamy-talks-live-about-natures-best-hope-and-the-opportunity-to-save-our-own-backyards/

Articles:
1. Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-ecologist-who-wants-unleash-wild-backyard-180974372/
2. NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/realestate/how-and-why-to-use-native-plants.html

3. Global human influence maps reveal clear opportunities in conserving Earth's remaining terrestrial ecosystems: Global Change Biology: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.15109: Half the Earth is Relatively Intact from Human Influence: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/half-earth-relatively-intact-global-human-influence/

Convention on Biological Diversity: https://www.cbd.int/convention/

Half Earth Project: https://www.half-earthproject.org/

Nature Needs Half: https://natureneedshalf.org/

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html

Author's Website: http://www.bringingnaturehome.net/

Local Native Plant Nurseries:
Bowman's Hill: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/
Gino's Nursery: https://www.ginosnursery.com/
NE Native Perennials: http://www.nenativesandperennials.com/index2.html
Edge of the Woods Nursery: http://www.nenativesandperennials.com/index2.html

Native Plant Sites:
1. PA-DCNR:
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Conservation/WildPlants/LandscapingwithNativePlants/Pages/default.aspx
2. Native Plant Finder: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/

3. Plants for Birds by Audubon: https://www.audubon.org/PLANTSFORBIRDS

Discussion Questions: 

 

1.     What is your knowledge and use currently of native plants in your home landscape?

 

2.     Discuss the relationship of man to nature, how it evolved, and the causes of its breakdown.

 

3.     What conservation efforts and actions have been taken to try to save nature and threatened species and how effective have they been, including the national park system, Endangered Species Act, etc. (p. 30-)

 

4.     Occupying 1.9% of the surface of the US, turf is the single largest irrigated crop in the US and has led also to habitat destruction and fragmentation. Discuss the various cultural, ecological and evolutionary influences that have led to this situation. (p. 51-)

 

5.     “Carrying capacity is the ability of a particular place to support a specific species.” Discuss its relevance including impact of deer. (p. 85-)

 

6.     There are over 3300 invasive plants species in the United States alone. What is their impact on native plants, animals and the overall ecosystem? What are the ecological consequences?  (p. 96-, 111-)

 

7.     “Caterpillars are the mainstay of most bird diets in North America, particularly when birds are rearing their young.” Discuss why they are so important and what we can do to help their populations including which keystone plants to plant? (130, 168)

 

8.     Let’s not forget the bees and their role, including that they pollinate a third of our crops as well as pollinate 87% of all plants.  What are some steps we can take to support them?

 

9.     We’ve read many nature books and I’m always delighted to read yet another amazing story and learn about a new finding. What did you find surprising?

 

10.  Discuss Tallamy’s concept of a Homegrown National Park and what are the steps that he suggests we take to contribute to it?   (p. 205-)

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

Summary (from Amazon):

"Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?"

Reviews:

New York Times, "For the Love of Potatoes":

 http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/06/03/reviews/010603.03bilgert.html

The Guardian: "Power to the Potato":

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jun/01/featuresreviews.guardianreview7

Author's Site: http://michaelpollan.com/interviews/botany-of-desire/

Interviews: 

* NPR: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1126607, (Part 2) https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?; storyId=1123916; https://www.npr.org/programs/talkingplants/radio/010604.pollan.html

* TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pollan_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view

The Movie by PBS: http://www.pbs.org/thebotanyofdesire/

Study guides:

PBS: https://www-tc.pbs.org/thebotanyofdesire/pdf/BotanyofDesire_RandomHouseTeacherGuide.pdf

Bookrags: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-botany-of-desire/#gsc.tab=0

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Discussion Questions: (Donna wrote these questions and will be leading the discussion.)

1. Does this book about domesticated species fit into our nature lover’s book selections, or not?

2. What are a few examples of coevolution right here in our neck of the woods, meadows, or backyards? Or in other books we have read together like “Beak of the Finch” , “Forest Unseen”, etc.?

3. What do you think about Pollan’s premise that we humans are part of the coevolutionary process?  Scientists and farmers have been artificial selectors for hundreds of years, what is the difference between artificial selection and coevolution..? or is there one?  What did Darwin argue?

4. On page xxiii of the introduction Pollan writes “Indeed, even the wild now depends on civilization for survival.”  Let’s talk about how this fits some of our previous discussions.

5. What was your favorite and/or least favorite chapter? Why?

6. Let’s talk about the storied 10,000 year history of Cannabis and the discovery of cannabinoid receptors in the human brain?  How is marijuana different/similar to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs?  Should it be legal?

7. What are some other plants, foods, animals Pollan (or other authors) could use to illustrate his thesis?

8. In your opinion, are GMOs a net plus or minus for our U.S. food system?  What about malnourished countries?  Is spraying chemical insecticides different than putting natural insecticides directly into a plants’ genes? Why or why not?

9. Talk about biodiversity versus monocultures on our farms, on our dinner plates, in lumber tracts, etc.

10.  Do we control plants or do they control us?   On page 187, “Everything affecting everything else” is not a bad description of what happens in a garden, or any ecosystem.  

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