Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard

Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard. Douglas W. Tallamy (2019). This book should be read by everyone; it is an essential blueprint to put into action today if we hope to sustain, restore, and conserve our environment. Tallamy states in no uncertain terms that conservation efforts in the past are not sufficient. One, because the parks and preserves of the past, while good efforts, are too small an approach to remediate our current situation. He asserts that everyone has to be involved in conservation actively, at home, at work, in our communities, where we farm, in our front yards. Our second misstep is that of assuming that scientists and conservationists were enough to stem the tide of destruction we have loosed upon our Earth. Everyone is responsible for the conservation of our Earth, stewards one and all. Tallamy makes a compelling argument for individual responsibility for conservation. Providing factual data and our history of caring for the Earth, he creates a living, breathing scenario that is profoundly engaging – yet, at the same time not hopeless nor insurmountable. His love for the Earth is readily apparent in his ideas and his words; a summons for all to respond and remediate. As he states, “This book is about fixing problems’” and he demonstrates how the problems are fixable. Tallamy offers solutions anyone who has a piece of land can implement, whether reducing the size of our lawns or enabling weeds to flourish when they are native and essential to the ecosystem. His chapter on restoring insects is a call for all of us to no longer think in terms of a ‘bad bug’ but rather, to view insect life as essential to the life cycle. He challenges us to think of ourselves as conservators of ‘homegrown national parks.’ Personal anecdotes, historical wisdom, and illustrative color photos pepper the pages, creating in the reader a selfish interest in this topic. His writing is familiar and clear; we need not be ecologists to understand the criticality of the problem nor the potential array of solutions he proffers. Read this book

I can't say enough great things about this book. Broad takeaway: you can make a difference. Live in an apartment? You can put out plants for birds, bees and butterfly's. Office job? Same thing in your outdoor areas. On an on. This helps give you real tools, real info, and real reasons we should all be doing this. These animals literally help keep us alive. I don't want to sound like a nutter, but that's the truth. No more bees, no more humans. Period. His writing is easy and informative for what is a difficult subject. We should all be thinking of our yards as "stopping points" or "places of refuge" for these little critters. Use less stuff to kill the bugs. Make more places for them to thrive. Excellent read. I've given away at least a dozen of these books and always to rave reviews and not just to granola munching tree huggers. This applies to everyone.

Professor Tallamy has a vision for our future that you need to read about. Imagine a world (I'm borrowing from his eighth chapter now) where you may look out of any window in your house and see a view of a national park, filled with wildlife and the vegetation that makes up their natural habitats. This is Tallamy's call for all of us to consider our properties as potential habitat for the birds, insects, and other critters that have been consistently misplaced by our yards. So what does he claim is "Nature's Best Hope?" It is plants native to our region, not the exotics we so often plant that can't be used by our native insects. It is then the native insects that so many birds and animals feed upon and serve to their young. It is then the native birds and animals that eat the insects, and from there the animals that eat them. "Nature's Best Hope" is returning our neighborhoods to as natural a habitat as we can make it after the bulldozers have left. It's giving back to our fellow inhabitants a place where they can live, grow and reproduce. It's returning as much of our property to a natural state as we comfortably can for their benefit. WE, then, are "Nature's Best Hope." This is something we all have the power to do. And Tallamy tells you how you can do it in simple steps. I've done it, so you can, too. His ideas work! And he doesn't hate exotic plants, some have their uses, so you need not remove them all. He's not that extreme. But he does know the benefits of our native plants and tells us how they work for our native ecology. Comparing natives to exotics, he guides us in the right choices for our landscapes. And it doesn't have to look like a jungle (unless, of course, you already live in the jungle). Tallamy gives lots of advice on ways to create visually aesthetic yards, something to be proud of, as well as something ecologically helpful. In short, he calls this a "home-grown national park," where nature is simultaneously preserved and enjoyed by people. Picture that right there in your own neighborhood, in your own yard! A place where the kids can walk out the door, explore and learn about nature without driving 300 miles to the nearest park! And, come on, who likes mowing the grass anyway? (I know there will be a few hands raised on this one as it does take all kinds to make a world). But to be fair, Tallamy doesn't advocate total elimination of grass from your yard either. Just include some natives in your landscape for the creatures that depend upon them for their very survival. Leave the grass wherever you want to: it handles foot traffic fairly well. But recreate some natural habitat for the things that need it, like butterflies, ladybugs, birds, bees and other pollinators. Then, of course, you will begin to realize who really needs healthy natural habitats. The creature we are all the most fond of: us! If the habitats we live in aren't fit for the bees, they ultimately aren't fit for us either! Tallamy says this better than I have. His book is eloquent, articulate, and convincing. Read it now, for your own benefit.

Great book, especially during this season and environment. There is so much to know about our surroundings.

I started reading at Chapter 7 because invasive species are of particular interest to me. And I was not disappointed. In fact, that was the best explanation I have ever read of why we need to eradicate invasive species. It was scientific, but he explained it clearly so a non-scientist like me can understand it. And not just understand it, but be inspired to act. The idea that I can do my part to change the world, in my backyard is very empowering and resonates deeply with me. What a great concept, which is transferable to so many other issues. It's a beautiful book, very well illustrated. So then I went back to the beginning and started reading from the introduction onward. And I was so glad I started in the middle because the book starts very slowly and it takes several chapters before it starts to become clear where he's going with it. If I had started on page one, I may have given up after a couple of chapters. For example, he writes bios of two of his environmentalist heroes, and sure they are great guys, but those sections could have been easily omitted without undermining the narrative. Some of his early ramblings are cringe. "We have now explored and colonized all of planet Earth, so we are looking upward, as now, rather foolishly I think, we talk of colonized Mars." Who cares what you think about Mars? This book is about Earth. He goes on to say, "Most of us still yearn to discover. We have replaced wagon trains with road trips in hopes of satisfying this age-old craving, but we rarely succeed." Speak for yourself! My road trips are very satisfying and filled with discoveries. Fortunately, he finally gets his act together, and it ends up being and very worthwhile book, in spite of all the excess fat that could have been trimmed by a good editor.

This book is totally amazing. I wish there was a tiny ‘condensed’ version to share to everyone in my extended neighborhood

Doug Tallamy's readable, actionable advice to the property owner who wonders how to employ ecosystem restoration that makes a real, positive difference

Prof. Tallamy, in clear, comfortable prose, spells out how anyone who is serious about protecting and preserving our biosphere should view the property surrounding their home. (It's not a book of great relevance to folks who live in apartments or have little or no land around their homes.) We need to plant and cultivate our properties to support native insects and birds, and only include nonnative plants that are not invasive (they won't multiply and crowd out natives) and complement the native species we emphasize. We need to treat our properties as partners with and extensions of the native landscapes found in public parks and forests. The biggest first step is to reduce the space devoted to lawns; mowed grass is great for pathways and play spaces, but contributes almost nothing to the health of our biosphere. I now spend most of my days planting and tending to new shrubs and trees while reducing our mowed grass areas and eliminating invasive plants. I keep buying more copies of this book as gifts to friends.

Very informative, if you live in the USA.

Doug Tallamy is a wonderful writer and knowledgeable author on his topic. His videos are great to see too.

Douglas breaks everything down into plain English for anybody to understand, you don't have to have any knowledge on the subject to understand his writings and message. It is a must read for any person interested on how they can do better with their own property truely no matter the size. It is non-political and jammed packed with shocking facts about the world going on around you that no one's talking about

Nice book on alternative land use and getting away from sparkling chemical laden green lawns. Four years ago I moved from Calgary to a small village in Saskatchewan. Bought a modest bungalow on a monster lot that needs constant maintenance. After reading this book I added a natural pond and allowed most of my backyard lawn to grow wild.

This book opened my eyes - a very good read and necessary for moving forward in the future and supporting our natural environment.