Here’s another impressive selection of new books to check out!
The Life of a Creature: Stories
By Nadja Lubiw-Hazard
An astonishing debut story collection about the interconnection between humans and animals navigating love, loss, and healing.
Creatures swim, slither, and soar their way through this stunning short story collection about the inextricable nature of humans and animals that celebrates and bears witness to our fellow creatures and to the complex emotional terrain of our own lives.
A woman’s personal trauma and anxiety are intertwined with the lives of the feral dogs abandoned in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. As a lesbian love affair unravels, the secrets of a gift-giving crow are revealed. The life of a veterinarian is told through the animals that she has loved and that she has tried to save. A dying man dreams of returning as a vulture after death. The loss of sea turtles on the brink of extinction weaves through a mother’s devastation over the loss of a daughter.
Beautiful in its renderings of human experience, The Life of a Creature is a tender and haunting book imbued with the deeply sensory intimacies of the animal world.
Building a Sustainable Kitchen
By Naomi Hansen
When Canadian food writer Naomi Hansen first started her sustainability journey, she was overwhelmed by conflicting advice, shiny advertisements, and unrealistic recommendations. Building a Sustainable Kitchen is her antidote: a solutions-focused, no-nonsense guide designed to help you cut through disinformation and greenwashing to make your kitchen truly sustainable, one step at a time.
In each chapter, Naomi invites you on her journey to build a planet-friendly kitchen with help from her husband Paul and their dog Rue. Drawing on wisdom from hundreds of sources—including interviews with experts, academic studies, books, and organizations on the front lines of the climate crisis—and on the author’s own experience as a regular Canadian in her humble kitchen, Building a Sustainable Kitchen demystifies the science behind how what we do in the kitchen every day affects our Earth—and most importantly, shows you what you can do about it.
How to Plant a Billion Trees: A Memoir of Childhood Trauma and the Healing Power of Nature
By Nicole Walker
When Nicole Walker was molested and had an abortion at age 11, the distance between her and the world grew until she couldn’t imagine a future place for her anywhere. In How to Plant a Billion Trees, Walker tries to understand why her whole life didn’t fall apart, as was predicted. As she pieces together her story, she finds that it was thanks in no small part to her mother, her sisters, her friends who did not let the sexual abuse to define her. In this candid portrayal of a young girl, Nicole Walker writes about how, thanks to her family, her friends, and the mountains of the Wasatch, Cascades, and San Francisco Peaks, she reknit herself into the fabric of a supportive culture.
Employing the forest as a model to understand how to reconnect her life with the world, Nicole studies the way that ecosystems anticipate, react, and support each small part of the whole. As she learns more about ecology, she discovers that in a healthy forest, even the gritty, decaying elements contribute to the health of the forest. The process of rebuilding the self into a community parallels the process of a forest’s growth.
Dare to Evolve
By Don McClure
Dare to Evolve offers an invitation to awaken our consciousness and take loving, actionable steps toward a sustainable, unified future.
Evolution starts with a challenge to adopt a new way of thinking, behave with integrity, and create systems that sustain life rather than take advantage of it.
A path toward a sustainable and regenerative future, Dare to Evolve is a call to action. It looks at how society may move past antiquated structures and adopt ideas that benefit the earth and its inhabitants. It provides practical examples of community-driven peace initiatives, mindful education, regenerative agriculture, clean water projects, renewable energy, holistic health, zero waste practices, and ethical economic models.
Chapters are written with love and respect for all those providing solutions, supported by research. Every chapter showcases businesses and inventions that are actively repairing ecosystems, strengthening local communities, and igniting change in addition to minimizing harm.
The fundamental idea behind Dare to Evolve is that sustainability involves our collaborations with one another and the environment, not just technology or regulations. The book shows how several movements are coming together to create a more resilient and compassionate world. It provokes readers to take an active role in this change, serving as a reminder that the future is something to be enthusiastic about rather than something to fear.
Bringing Butterflies Home: Gardening with Native Plants to Heal Our Yards and Ourselves
By Elizabeth White Olsen
Heal your yard and your life.
Do you long to feel closer to nature, but you’re not sure where to start? Attracting butterflies to your yard or porch is an easy entry point that will quickly bring you joy and wonder. Landscape designer Elizabeth White Olsen guides readers through the many lessons she’s learned on her journey from native plant newbie to professional butterfly garden designer. In this book, you’ll discover how to:
* Attract more butterflies by actually doing less yard work
* Find native host and nectar plants to attract specific butterfly species within weeks or months
* See the beauty in native landscapes and help others value them
* Slow down, reduce your anxiety, and deepen your connection with nature and the divine
* Bring butterflies and butterfly gardens to your communityWhether you’re a beginner gardener eager to see butterflies or want to completely rewild your property, the strategies in Bringing Butterflies Home can transform your life with new hope.
John is co-author, with Midge Raymond, of the mystery Devils Island. He is also author of the novels The Tourist Trail and Where Oceans Hide Their Dead. Co-founder of Ashland Creek Press and editor of Writing for Animals (also now a writing program). More at JohnYunker.com.