Secrets of the Saltmarsh By Claire Saxby; illustrated by Alicia Rogerson CSIRO Publishing, 2023 isbn 9781486317141 (hbk) It’s not every day that you think of, or use the words ‘salt marsh’. Wetlands, yes, vaulable and quickly disappearing habitats, a habitat type that we are losing each year to drainage to make way for farmland.…
Reviewed by Professor William Scott Just how bad are bananas? I don’t mean as a food; that’s quite a different question. I’m referring to carbon footprints. You might have wondered about this as you unzipped that most convenient and ubiquitous of fruits, given that it will have been carted half-way across the planet to sit…
Reviewed by Henricus Peters The Natural History Museum – that cathedral to the natural world and its multiple wonders – has done it again, with this quirky collection of weird factual stories. It will come as no surprise that the team of experts at NHM London has come forth with this sound volume to answer…
SEA CHANGE: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean is a new book from the University of California Press. Its author is Christina Gerhardt. Pages: 320 ISBN: 9780520304826 Price: £30.00 This is not just an Atlas but more an experience. As you turn the pages you realise that you are hearing life and death…
The Climate Book, which was “created” by Greta Thunberg, weighs in at a hefty 1.4kg so you might need to reinforce that coffee table. It has 5 sections: How climate works How our planet is changing How it affects us What we’ve done about it What we must do now Each of these is sub-divided into…
Reviewed by Henricus Peters “Just another book on the environment?” I hear you say… No, actually, Protect Our Planet is different as it comes from a young conservationist: an 11-year old eco-warrior from Durban in South Africa, who has already done more beach cleanups and tree-planting than most adults. The book, aimed at children but…
Leadership for Sustainability: saving the planet one school at a time David Dixon, Crown House Publishing, 2022 250pp, paperback, £18.99, ISBN 978-1-78135-401-8 September 2022 saw the 60th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring which drew attention to the devastating impact that the indiscriminate use of pesticides such as DDT was having on the natural world. It…
Henricus Peters reviews Flames of Extinction: the race to save Australia’s threatened wildlife by John Pickrell. A carefully researched and deeply empathetic portrayal of the battle to save Australia’s precious wildlife as we cook our planet”. Gaia Vince, author of ‘Adventures in the Anthropocene’ is certainly correct in this statement. John Pickrell has upturned seemingly every possible rock…
Sue Shanks reviews Mother Earth is Weeping by Claire Donald. This slim little book follows Mother Earth as she shares her worries with the moon about the negative environmental impact that people are having on the planet. Turning to the Sun, Mother Earth and the Moon are cheered by the Sun’s belief that there is capacity for…
Planktonia: the nightly migration of the ocean’s smallest creatures by Erich Hoyt Whilst our planet is covered 75% in salt water to the extent it should be called ‘Blue Planet’ or ‘Planet Ocean’, we still know very little about the ocean waters and their treasures: the amazing organisms that call these waters home. This is especially true…