Where Song Began
What I most missed after a trip to Australia last year wasn’t the beaches or the local accents. It was the sounds of the birds. The plaintive cries of the …
Nonfiction
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush
In 2012, on assignment in Bangladesh researching a story on the world’s longest border fence, journalist Elizabeth Rush “inadvertently” became interested in sea level rise. By 2015, she’d become obsessed. …
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Ecovillages Around the World: 20 Regenerative Designs for Sustainable Communities edited by Frederica Miller
As a conservation biologist I see ecovillages as an example for all of us. We need to reduce our impact on the Earth, and these communities are doing that well. …
Book Review: Penguins in the Desert by Eric Wagner
As a former volunteer for Dee Boersma at the Punta Tombo Magellanic colony in Argentina, I was especially eager to read Eric Wagner’s Penguins in the Desert, in which he …
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Eager: The fall and rise of the North American beaver
Pity the keystone species. Those animals upon which the health of so many ecosystems depend — wolves and jaguars, sharks and sea otters, to name just a few. Due in large part to …
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American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West
In 2006, a wolf was born in Yellowstone National Park. Named O-Six, she would grow into a fierce fighter, doting mother, and merciful leader. She’d be beloved by the park’s …
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Return of the Sea Otter: The story of a resilient species and its many human friends
The sea otter should have been extinct by now. We, as in human civilization, did our very best to eliminate the species — not because we saw it as a …
BirdNote: Chirp-sized bird stories from the popular radio show
Here in Ashland, Oregon, I listen to our local radio station KSKQ. And for the past several years I’ve enjoyed the weekly, two-minute BirdNote programs. So I was excited to find …
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Book Review: Junk Raft by Marcus Eriksen
Junk Raft: An Ocean Voyage and a Rising Tide of Activism to Fight Plastic Pollution tells the terrifying and important story of plastics in our oceans, framed by Marcus Eriksen’s …
Book Review: Back from the Brink by Nancy F. Castaldo
Back from the Brink, by Nancy F. Castaldo, is a collection of stories for older kids (10 – 12 years old) about animals that have come very close to extinction. …
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Book Review: Lion Hearted: The Life and Death of Cecil & the Future of Africa’s Big Cats by Andrew Loveridge
In Lion Hearted: The Life and Death of Cecil & the Future of Africa’s Big Cats, lion researcher Andrew Loveridge recounts his work studying prides of lions living in Zimbabwe. …