United States
£ GBP
Douglas W. Tallamy's first book, Bringing Nature Home, sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being. In Nature's Best Hope, he takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots, home-grown approach to conservation. Nature's Best Hope advocates for homeowners everywhere to turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. This home-based approach doesn't rely on the federal government and protects the environment from the whims of politics. It is also easy to do, and readers will walk away with specific suggestions they can incorporate into their own yards. Nature's Best Hope is nature writing at its best – rooted in history, progressive in its advocacy, and above all, actionable and hopeful. By proposing practical measures that ordinary people can easily do, Tallamy gives us reason to believe that the planet can be preserved for future generations.
Doug Tallamy is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 95 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 39 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers' Association. The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, was published in 2014. Among his awards are the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation and the Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence, and the 2018 AHS B.Y. Morrison Communication Award.
"Doug Tallamy lays out all you need to know to participate in one of the great conservation projects of our time. Read it and get started!"
– Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction
"Doug Tallamy is a quiet revolutionary and a hero of our time, taking back the future one yard at a time. In Nature's Best Hope, he shows how each of us can help turn our cities, towns and world into engines of biodiversity and human health."
– Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods
"Douglas Tallamy is one of the most original and persuasive present-day authors on conservation, and Nature's Best Hope adds effectively to his grand image."
– Edward O. Wilson, author of Half-Earth
"Here is one area where individual action really can help make up for all that government fails to do: your backyard can provide the margin to keep species alive. Mow less, think more!"
– Bill McKibben, author of Falter
"Tallamy shows how to transform yards into ecological wonderlands full of vibrant life. Your local birds, butterflies, and plants will thank you for learning from his wise advice."
– David George Haskell, author of The Forest Unseen, Pulitzer finalist, and The Songs of Trees
"This is a handbook for not only transforming your own yard, but for talking to your neighbors, the teachers in the paved schoolyard next door, and your town councilors about connecting one green haven to another to build wildlife corridors that become, as Tallamy puts it, a Homegrown National Park."
– Anne Raver, award-winning columnist and author of Deep in the Green
"A clarion call to go native: acting locally in your yard or neighborhood and thinking globally about the biodiversity crisis."
– Scott Freeman, author of Saving Tarboo Creek
"Doug Tallamy's inspiring vision of a human landscape capable of supporting a wondrous diversity of life is powerfully articulated in Nature's Best Hope."
– Rick Darke, landscape designer, lecturer, photographer, and coauthor of Gardens of the High Line
"A revelatory guide whose application can begin just outside our doors."
– Booklist
"Tallamy provides answers in a down-to-earth, personalized style [...] this is an essential addition to most gardening collections."
– Library Journal
"Nature's Best Hope advocates not just a horticultural revolution, but a cultural one, bridging the human-dominated landscape and the natural world."
– Smithsonian Magazine
"An inspiring and necessary book [...] Tallamy is so important in today's ecological efforts [...] everyone can (and should) read his writings."
– The Garden Club of America
"An outstanding book, full of deep insights, and practical advice."
– Dennis Liu, Ph.D., Vice President for Education, EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation
"A full-blown manifesto that calls for the radical rethinking of the American residential landscape, starting with the lawn."
– The Washington Post
"If you'd like to turn your own little postage stamp of native soil into a conservation effort, Nature's Best Hope is a great place to begin."
– New York Times
"Nature's Best Hope isn't just what we can do with boots on the ground; it's about fighting for a changed cultural mindset. We can experience the health, wellness, and resiliency of life if we're willing to embrace all of the messy complications that make this world worth experiencing in all its wild promise."
– The American Gardener
"In a world full of doom and gloom, Dr. Tallamy's latest book is an uplifting and empowering guide to how each and every one of us can be part of the conservation movement and it all starts with native plants."
– In Defense of Plants
"If you're concerned about doing something good for the environment, Nature's Best Hope is the blueprint you need. By acting now, you can help preserve our precious wildlife – and the planet – for future generations."
– Hockessin Community News
"Nature's Best Hope helps us to understand the urgency we all should and must have as we try to make a difference to our ever-changing planet."
– Nature Revisited
"An essential read for those concerned with the fate of planet Earth and its creatures."
– Connecticut Gardener
"Nature's Best Hope is a message for every land owner, renter, property manager, container gardener, government planner and administrator: You have a vital role to play in the survival of biodiversity on this planet!"
– The Press of Atlantic City
"Become part of Tallamy's army of gardeners converting yards and wasted spaces of America into Homegrown National Park."
– Wyoming Tribune Eagle
