Bringing Nature Home
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“If you cut down the goldenrod, the wild black cherry, the milkweed and other natives, you eliminate the larvae, and starve the birds. This simple revelation about the food web—and it is an intricate web, not a chain—is the driving force in Bringing Nature Home.” —The New York Times As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity. There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife is in crisis and may be headed toward extinction. Bringing Nature Home has sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being, and the new paperback edition—with an expanded resource section and updated photos—will help broaden the movement. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical recommendations, everyone can make a difference.
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Popular Reviews
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Douglas W. Tallamy is blunt: “My central message is that unless we restore native plants to our suburban ecosystems, the future of biodiversity in the United States is dim.”
I was shocked to read this: “Most insect herbivores can only eat plants with which they share an evolutionary history.” The meaning is clear: non-native plants can't support a rich and diverse ecosystem of native insects and birds.
This is grim: “We have become accustomed to meeting our needs without compromise. If we need space to live, we take it—all of it—and if that means filling in a pollywog pond or cutting down a woodlot, then so be it. We feel completely justified in sending the plants and animals that depend on those habitats off to make do someplace else. This is partly because no one is going to choose a pollywog over a human if presented with such a choice, and partly because, until recently, there always has been someplace else for nature to thrive. But no longer.”
How about this: “Unless we modify the places we live, work, and play to meet not only our own needs but the needs of other species as well, nearly all species of wildlife native to the United States will disappear forever.”
Happily, the author doesn't stop here. “The predictions of mass extinction are based on the assumption that the vast majority of plants and animals cannot coexist with humans in the same place at the same time. Nonsense! Evidence suggests that the opposite is true: most species could live quite nicely with humans if their most basic ecological needs were met.”
A marvelous book everyone needs to read.
