Basic Books, 2025-04-18
ISBN: 978-1-541601-24-6
Reviewed by Caroline Warnes
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The title of this book sums up its content well: its aim is to encourage people to pay more attention to the nature surrounding them wherever they live, whether they have large gardens or in their local parks or surroundings. In a series of chapters, the author explores various related themes. Firstly, he outlines ways that can help people take more notice of the plants and animals that are living alongside them, encouraging them to observe more closely or from a totally different angle as demonstrated by crawling through his garden on his hands and knees! He then takes a more in depth look at the variety of wildlife living in different environments around his home including in trees, in ponds and under the soil. Most importantly of all, he also outlines the benefits associated with people paying attention to the nature on their doorstep, both to the people themselves and to the wider natural world.
This book is written in a very engaging and accessible way. Thor Hanson’s enthusiasm and excitement about the natural world really shine through. He is a Conservation Biologist and his writing is firmly grounded in science but this does not reduce the accessibility of the writing to non-scientists. Each chapter has links to extensive notes, included in a separate appendix, which expand on the information given in the text and provide references for anyone who would like to read about the subject in more depth.
One of the main themes of this book is the importance of environmental biodiversity: the variety and interconnectedness of all living things. The author argues that encouraging and maintaining biodiversity on both a local and a global scale benefits both the environment and the humans living within it. And people are more likely to appreciate and encourage biodiversity in their neighbourhoods if they are aware of and appreciate the individual plants, animals and other creatures living on their doorstep.
The author outlines some very persuasive arguments for the benefits of biodiversity to humans. As Green Spirit readers will know, exposure to nature has been proven to have positive effects on peoples’ physical and mental wellbeing. And research suggests that the greater the diversity of the natural environment the greater the beneficial effects.
Maintaining biodiversity is also important to humankind for other reasons. Many of the industries that we rely on for our survival including farming, fisheries and forestry are rooted in, and supported by, nature. Reductions in biodiversity can increase the risk of crop failure due to numerous factors including a reduction in the number of insect pollinators and increased risks of pests and diseases. Many of our pharmaceutical products already come from natural sources, and new species, with new medicinal properties, are being discovered all the time. Substances with antibiotic, antiviral and anti-cancer effects have recently been extracted from previously unknown species of fungi found in soil samples. Reduced biodiversity could mean the loss of species that could be beneficial to humans, even before we are aware of them.
This book also outlines many ways in which people can contribute to monitoring, maintaining and improving environmental diversity, both in their own neighbourhoods and more widely. This is very refreshing in a time when environmental news is generally so negative and people might easily feel that there is no point in trying to do anything.
One important way in which people can contribute to monitoring the environment and helping to maintain biodiversity is through taking part in citizen science projects. The author outlines numerous examples of where people have taken part in specific projects, for example recording examples of bird or animal behaviour or collecting insect specimens to send in for identification. These projects can help monitor changes in population density of different organisms on both a local and wider scale and in some cases have resulted in the identification of new species. The fungi mentioned above that were found to produce substances with medicinal properties were extracted from soil samples sent into the laboratory as part of a citizen science project. Just by entering the species they see in their local neighbourhoods into an app such as iNaturalist, people can contribute to monitoring changes in populations of different organisms on a local, national and even global level because this data is used by research scientists and has already formed the basis of many scientific papers.
The author also demonstrates that people making small improvements in their local environment can potentially have big effects on the survival and populations of individual organisms. For example people living in Oklahoma, under the northerly migratory path of Monarch butterflies, have been encouraged to plant milkweed in their gardens and public spaces. Milkweed is the sole foodplant for Monarch caterpillars, and reduced availability of milkweed in the areas where the caterpillars emerge is believed to be one of the limiting factors contributing to reductions in Monarch butterfly numbers. Elsewhere encouraging people to build ponds has helped to create a network of watery environments, increasing the populations of amphibians including frogs, toads and newts. Parks and gardens can potentially support a wide variety of species and with a little thought and care people can improve their biodiversity even further, through reducing use of weedkillers and pesticides and improving habitats including for example planting suitable food plants for insects, reducing lawn mowing, providing nest boxes for birds, ponds for amphibians and insects, and piles of old wood to provide sheltered hibernation spots for hedgehogs and insects.
Another huge argument for the importance of maintaining environmental biodiversity is that we don’t always understand how changes in the population of one species will affect others, or the wider environment. The author mentions the wide-reaching knock-on environmental effects of the reintroduction of Grey Wolves into Yellowstone National Park. He also stresses that there are new species of plants, animals, insects etc being discovered all the time, and there are likely to be many others that we are not yet aware of. Some of these could become extinct without us ever knowing they existed.
This book should be essential reading for everyone in this time of rapid nature depletion across the globe. As Thor Hansen points out, as humans we have the potential to either destroy or protect the biodiversity of our planet. We can all do something to help improve the biodiversity in our own back yards or local areas, and this small “something” can potentially have much wider beneficial effects on biodiversity and the environment generally.