Nature’s Best Hope with Douglas Tallamy

Instead of despair about our environment, Douglas W. Tallamy brings us hope. Specifically, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard. 

In this book, our chosen selection for 2024 Peoria Reads, Tallamy outlines a grassroots approach to conservation that is practical, effective, easy and – yes – even fun. During a virtual presentation and Q&A, Tallamy will discuss simple steps each of us can take to turn our yards into conservation corridors that may provide the margins to keep some species alive. You will walk away from this program with specific ideas you can incorporate into your own yard.  

In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water. ~ Doug Tallamy

About the Author

Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 112 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 43 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 books include Bringing Nature Home, The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, Nature's Best Hope, a New York Times Best Seller, The Nature of Oaks, winner of the American Horticultural Society’s 2022 book award.    In 2021 he cofounded Homegrown National Park with Michelle Alfandari (HomegrownNationalPark.org). His awards include recognition from The Garden Writer’s Association, Audubon, The National Wildlife Federation, Allegheny College, Ecoforesters, The Garden Club of America and The American Horticultural Association.