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 …
Book Reviews
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. …
Read the review: Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush
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 …
Read the review: Book Review: Penguins in the Desert by Eric Wagner
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 …
Read the review: Eager: The fall and rise of the North American beaver
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 …
Read the review: American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West
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 …
Read the review: BirdNote: Chirp-sized bird stories from the popular radio show
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. …
Read the review: Book Review: Back from the Brink by Nancy F. Castaldo
The Overstory: An arboreal love story (and lament)
When we started EcoLit Books five years ago, this was the type of book I had in mind. A novel that places nature in its proper place in relation to …
Read the review: The Overstory: An arboreal love story (and lament)