Nature's Ghosts (e-book) (used book) | Sophie Yeo | bookbook.eu

Description

What human history can teach us about how to avoid ecological catastrophe

Once, the world was wild.

By mapping the footprints left behind, however faint, we can start to walk towards a brighter and more ancient future.

For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the environment. Our activities leave an indelible mark on the places we inhabit - for good and for bad.

Nature's Ghosts examines how the earth would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity, from the primeval forests that emerged following the last ice age, to the eagle-filled skies of the Dark Ages, to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries.

It uncovers the stories of the people who have helped to shape our landscapes through time, seeking out their footprints - even where it seems there are none to be found - and looking at how timeworn knowledge of the natural world can help us to mend our own relationship with the earth.
And it recounts the environmental detective work - archaeological, cultural and ecological - that has allowed us to reconstruct the details of our lost wild world.

Today, the footprints of humanity are heavier than ever; the natural world more vulnerable as we encroach upon it ever further and faster. There is no such thing as pristine wilderness anymore - nor will there ever be again.

But, this urgent book argues, from the ashes of the past, we can start to rebuild an ancient and enchanting future.