Literature

Charlotte Wildlife Stewards suggests these books from our collection of favorites. We believe you will find them worth the read and suitable for sharing with your friends and family. Let us hear about your favorite!

Better World Shopper a book dedicated to providing people with a comprehensive,
up-to-date, reliable account of the social and environmental responsibility of every company on the planet AND making it available in practical forms that individuals can use in their everyday lives. Vote for the environment with every dollar you spend.

Journey with Coco and Dean as they discover some easy steps to take to help ensure that our world stays beautiful and healthy for future generations. In this fun filled text, local expert Emily Scofield deftly addresses and explains complex topics like 'carbon footprints' and 'renewable resources'. Children everywhere will find this an enjoyable and eye opening read!

Our Wild Calling explores these powerful and mysterious bonds and how they can transform our mental, physical, and spiritual lives, serve as an antidote to the growing epidemic of human loneliness, and help us tap into the empathy required to preserve life on Earth.

In his landmark work Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv brought together cutting-edge studies that pointed to direct exposure to nature as essential for a child’s healthy physical and emotional development. Now this new edition updates the growing body of evidence linking the lack of nature in children’s lives and the rise in obesity, attention disorders, and depression. Louv’s message has galvanized an international back-to-nature campaign to “Leave No Child Inside.” His book will change the way you think about our future and the future of our children.

Richard Louv, author of the landmark bestseller Last Child in the Woods, urges us to change our vision of the future, suggesting that if we reconceive environmentalism and sustainability, they will evolve into a larger movement that will touch every part of society.

This New Nature Movement, "The Nature Principle", taps into the restorative powers of the natural world to boost mental acuity and creativity; promote health and wellness; build smarter and more sustainable businesses, communities, and economies; and ultimately strengthen human bonds. Supported by groundbreaking research, anecdotal evidence, and compelling personal stories, Louv offers renewed optimism while challenging us to rethink the way we live.

Nature's Best Hope shows how homeowners everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. Because this approach relies on the initiatives of private individuals, it is immune from the whims of government policy.

As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity.

There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife ― native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife is in crisis and may be headed toward extinction.

Two Charlotteans collaborated to create a truly wonderful and visually impressive guide to the best native plants to add to your garden. Dr. Larry Mellichamp and photographer Will Stuart showcase the many benefits of using local plants in our landscapes. This is a must have for gardeners of all levels.

A whole range of people will find this book useful, from gardeners, organic farmers, and permaculturalists, to garden and landscape designers, as well as those restoring and managing natural areas. This book has everything you need to know about beneficial insects. The bulk of the book describes the best pollinator-attracting plants and the interactions between their flowers and the pollinating insects. Insect pollinators are fascinating.

Perennial plant expert Ruth Rogers Clausen highlights the best, most versatile plants that deer simply don’t eat. The plant choices include annuals and perennials, shrubs, bulbs, grasses, and herbs and includes growing and design tips. This practical, authoritative, full-color guide is a great addition to our garden library.

Larry Weaner Landscape Associates (LWLA) is nationally recognized for combining environmental science with the rich artistic traditions of landscape design.LWLA’s work has been widely recognized for excellence and innovation. From the design board to implementation and management, we combine thorough site analysis, creative and practical strategies maximizing natural processes, and a unique ability to integrate the poetic power of design with the workings of nature.

These astonishing portraits of the natural world explore the breathtaking diversity of the unspoiled American landscape -- the mountains and the prairies, the deserts and the coastlines. A stunning tribute to our land and a bold challenge to protect the world we love, that can stand right alongside writings of Thoreau and John Muir.

The veteran nature writer’s latest book provides a cartography of his life story, focusing on six geographical areas: the Oregon coast, the Canadian Arctic, the Galápagos Islands, Tasmania, East Africa and Antarctica. He is a terrific guide to Earth’s wonders, but he’s equally effective at calling readers’ attention to the environmental disaster that will overwhelm us unless we act.

Rachel Carson's landmark book documented the dramatic impact of human-produced chemicals on the natural world and is widely credited with launching the modern-day environmental movement.

A major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes. A Pulitzer Prize winner!

Earth in the Balance. First published in 1992, this national best seller helped place the environment on the national agenda; now, as environmental issues move front-and-center in the public consciousness, the time is right to reflect deeply on the fate of our planet and commit ourselves to its future.

Thirty writers contributed essays to this anthology, offering ways of thinking and writing about nature that diverge from the largely white field of environmental literature. They map the intersections of environmental awareness, ethnicity and varieties of cultural inheritance. The result is a marvelous, textured demonstration of the immense benefits of diversity in meeting great challenges.

A "must have" for any birder in Mecklenburg County. The definitive book on birds found in specific areas of the Carolina Piedmont, written by Don Seriff and illustrated by Leigh Anne Carter. Both have a connection to Charlotte Wildlife Stewards!

Lanham has been recognized for his scholarship and essays on birding and nature, but as a black man he is also aware that being able to walk alone in the wilderness is a privilege. In this memoir of a South Carolina childhood, he recounts his family’s relationship to the land, his evolution as a chronicler of the beauty of the state’s forests and farmlands and the dangers lurking in the woods of the Jim Crow-era South.

Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife shows homeowners how to fill their yards and gardens with the sights and sounds of nature. Author David Mizejewski presents simple plans for reintroducing native plants that birds, butterflies, and a whole host of critters can't resist.

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation "Journal". A science based publication of stewardship across the state. Articles on policy and protection, the network of impact and involvement, experience and learning, and NCWF's signature programs. Not a book but we think it's a great read!

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