nature – Rebel Library

WILDING | ISABELLA TREE

“I recommend anyone prone to despair to read Wilding – for Isabella Tree’s apparently quixotic tale of Exmoor ponies, longhorn cattle, red deer and Tamworth pigs roaming free on an aristocratic estate is a hugely important addition to the literature of what can be done to restore soil and soul. The book describes an attempt to renew the ecosystem, after decades of intensive agriculture of some 1,400 hectares owned by Tree’s husband Charlie Burrell at Knepp in West Sussex. The project, which began in 2001, is perhaps unique in England, and the results have been spectacular. Tree is a trenchant critic of the intensive agriculture that has led to soil degradation and erosion. She questions the goal-driven frameworks of much conservation work: when there is no preferred end state, formerly rare and even vanished species tend suddenly to reappear. And she battles heroically against the English addiction to tidiness. For a nation obsessed with orderliness and boundaries, land that is endlessly morphing, on its way to being something else, can be discomforting. She also makes the case that it is possible to feed 10 billion humans on this planet while also leaving more space for the wild.” – Caspar Henderson

Poetry

Rebel Talk | Extinction Rebellion

Responding to a call from poet Rip Bulkeley’s call, sixty-three poets contributed to the anthology Rebel Talk. As Philip Gross’s Foreword explains, the poems “…seek to show what, uniquely, these times are, and why it is once again so urgent that creative artists respond to the challenges they pose, in particular to the climate emergency.

Each poem is an individual response to this challenge: as a collection, they possess a wealth of language and imagery, by turns hard, laconic, diamond sharp, down-to-earth, tender, urgently lyrical. What are these times? Almost – not quite – too late.”

Rebel Talk is divided into six chapters, exploring themes and emotions which draw together responses to the climate emergency. The opening chapter, ‘Earth’, rejoices and grounds itself in nature’s diversity and cosmic unity. Here is a vision of a natural world which we can recognise and respect, in which we can flourish and thrive because we know what we must do to make sure we don’t damage it.

Books for Children

The Lost Words, A Spell Book | Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

‘Once upon a time, words began to vanish from the language of children. They dissappeared so quietly that at first almost no-one noticed – until one day, they were gone.’

This book began as a response to the removal of everyday nature words – among them acorn, bluebell, kingfisher and wren – from a widely used children’s dictionary, because those words were not being used enough by children to merit inclusion. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris set upon a mission to bring back these lost words. This gorgeously illustrated ‘book of spells’ seeks to conjure back the near-lost magic and strangeness of the nature that surrounds us. Adults will love this book as much as children.

Books for Children

Gilberto and the Wind | Marie Hall Ets

Gilberto can’t see his best friend. But he feels him near. His best friend is the wind. This charming book — grounded by Ets’ colorful, minimalist drawings — introduces kids to the unseen world around them. It was originally published in 1963 and remains a whimsical introduction to a nuanced relationship with nature.