Learning How to Preserve Nature

Brandon Priddy, Public Services Librarian 

     The Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy, a long time library partner, has their annual event on Sunday, November 8th at 2:30 PM with special guest lecturer Dr. Doug Tallamy.  Dr. Tallamy is a Professor of Entomology for the University of Delaware and has authored over 100 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 40 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 virtual lecture, “will discuss simple steps that each of us can- and must- take to reverse declining biodiversity and will explain why we, ourselves, are nature’s best hope.”  

     His book Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers' Association. He is also the co-author of The Living Landscape. His new book, Nature's Best Hope, was published in February 2020.  Among his awards are the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation and the Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence, the 2018 AHS B.Y. Morrison Communication Award and the 2019 Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award.  You can register for his program via the MLNC here.  

     According to Anthropocene.info, we are currently living in the Anthropocene era, which is defined as: “Earth's most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced, or anthropogenic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans.  The word combines the root "anthropo", meaning "human" with the root "-cene", the standard suffix for "epoch" in geologic time.” The Library has lots of resources to better understand mankind’s effect on our environment and I selected a few to highlight.  

     I recommend the film Anthropocene: The Human Epoch: How Humans Have Impacted the Planet, which is available on Library streaming service Kanopy here.  The film, “follows the research of an international body of scientists…who, after nearly 10 years of research, argue that the Holocene Epoch gave way to the Anthropocene in the mid-twentieth century as a result of profound and lasting human changes to the Earth.” 

     To learn about positive changes being done, check out Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future.  The documentary: “explores solutions to the global crises we face today through the inspiring stories of people pioneering change in their own lives and in their communities in order to live in a sustainable and regenerative way.” You can watch it here.  The Great Courses has an excellent series titled Fundamentals of Sustainable Living that offers to help you, “become a more thoughtful consumer, save money, and reduce your ecological footprint with this course that teaches you how integrate sustainable practices into your everyday life.” You can watch the 12 episode series here.  

     Last month, the Library partnered with Roxanne Swan from the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and she delivered a great talk on how to “re-wild” our backyards to help wildlife and native plants thrive.  You can watch a recording of the program on our Vimeo page here.  This is part of a long series of Nature themed Library programs that you can also watch on our website.  I’m excited to continue the series in 2021 and hope to have details on more programs soon, so stayed tuned! 

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