Abundance: Nature in Recovery

Description

How should we restore nature and species, and why does it matter? What is lost when we choose not to engage in restoration of the natural world? And which parts of ourselves might we also lose if we choose not to help restore and renew the natural world before it's too late? In this collection, Karen Lloyd explores abundance and loss in the natural world, relating compelling stories of restoration, renewal and repair, describing how those working on the front lines of conservation are challenging the inevitability of biodiversity loss, as well as navigating her own explorations of the meaning of abundance in the Anthropocene. In an era of urgent ecological challenge, this timely book reveals the places that people are coming together to bring species and habitats back from the edge of extinction. Yet, elsewhere, many other species are being allowed to disappear forever. To understand why, she examines how humans have chosen to entangle themselves in nature and considers the ways we perceive the natural world. A book about ways of seeing, as Lloyd explores attitudes towards meaningful restoration, she weaves her insightful and joyous narrative through a diverse range of inspiring landscapes, from Romania's Carpathian mountains and the Hungarian Steppe to Perthshire's rivers and the dune forests of the Netherlands.

Karen Lloyd is a writer of non-fiction, poetry and journalism. Abundance is her third work of non-fiction. Her first book, The Gathering Tide: A Journey Around the Edgelands of Morecambe Bay, was selected as a top read in the Observer Authors' Books of the Year in 2016. The Blackbird Diaries was published in 2017. Both won prizes at The Lakeland Book of the Year Awards. Karen is also an environmental activist and edited and published the anthology Curlew Calling to raise awareness of the perilous state of Britain's lowland curlews.

It is noteworthy for its impressive lyricism, the experimental nature of its format and for the philosophical richness and variety of its content. * Spectator * If I was to recommend one book people should read for their well-being, it would be this. * Sir Tim Smit KBE, Co-founder, The Eden Project * In Abundance, Karen offers engaging, thought-provoking writing and asks many questions which should open up the discussion of what we value in the world around us. * Cumbria Life * Abundance explores the wealth of nature in recovery and challenges the inevitability of biodiversity loss. * Sunday Post * Full of exuberant delight. * Spectator * There's depth and skill as her writing moves from the prosaic to the lyric, all the time making the technical accessible. Scientific research fits comfortably alongside descriptions of birds and watercourses, and wider observations on our everyday successes and failures in living interdependently. * Cumbria Life * Abundance is a little masterpiece carrying an important message. It is a visceral if elegant plea that happiness lies in knowing what you look at - like the colours in a tiny bird's eyes - where observation exists as the passport to truth. Lloyd's book holds out the gateway to a new world. * Sir Tim Smit KBE, Co-founder, The Eden Project * Lloyd writes with such courageous attention it seems the least we can do is respond to her request to think differently, to imagine a world where abundance begets abundance. She paints the vision of a world full of animals living in harmony and asks, can humans learn to be one of them? * Nicole Walker, author of Processed Meats: Essays on Food, Flesh and Navigating Disaster * The essays in Abundance are characterised by an admirable urgency. Lloyd's is a voice for now. Her ways of seeing reel in not just the deep wounds at the heart of nature but also glimpse moments of hope, of healing. You want to know how to help nature to heal? Read this. Here's how. * Jim Crumley, author of The Last Wolf * We live at a time when our writers need to challenge our apathy and call out our lack of ambition in restoring Britain's nature. Very few are willing to do so, but in Abundance, Karen Lloyd opens up new pathways to a reimagined relationship with the wild. * Peter Cairns, Executive Director, Scotland: The Big Picture *