How to make the planet better from your own backyard
MAKE YOUR HOME A NATURE RESERVE
Donna Mullen O’Brien Press, €19.99
The precise origins of that classic environmental catchcry, “think globally, act locally”, have been lost in time – it may date right back to the 1970s and eco-pioneers Friends of the Earth – but the sentiment still holds.
Think globally, act locally: what a fine, useful and grown-up way to face environmental problems and challenges head-on, without getting overwhelmed.
Donna Mullen gets it, as does her book Make Your Home a Nature Reserve. An issue such as climate change or mass pollution, she writes, can feel “so huge, it makes us want to run away screaming, ‘we’re all going to die!’ or stick our heads in the sand and hope the problem somehow sorts itself out. It won’t.”
Indeed it won’t, which is why we need people like this. An ecologist with over three decades of experience, Mullen is a founding member of Bat Conservation Ireland and the Irish Environmental Network.
Together with her husband, she transformed a Co Meath farm into Golashane Nature Reserve, an award-winning home to a marvellous diversity of wildlife.
And the key point here is: anyone can do this, on some level – and every level, no matter how small, matters. We can all make a difference in protecting biodiversity, creating a cleaner environment and basically making this planet a little nicer for the billions of plants and animals we share it with, starting with your own garden and area. In short, we can all think global and act local.
There’s no preaching in Make Your Home a Nature Reserve ,no grandiose proclamations of the sort you get from those public figures and institutions who jump on the green bandwagon to further their own agenda. Just a full serving of tips, suggestions, solutions and words of advice that are helpful, practical and – probably most important of all – achievable, in welcoming wildlife and ensuring they (to quote Star Trek) “live long and prosper”.
Mullen is cheerful, enthusiastic, encouraging – and very thorough. Her book takes, quite literally, a bottom-up approach, explaining what lives in our soil, why these creatures are so important and how we can avoid harming them.
From there she works through large and small mammals, birds of all shapes and sizes, insects and plants, explaining their life cycles, what they need to thrive, what they do for us and what we can do for them.
The book is peppered with great little “I didn’t know that” titbits of information – foxes eat peanuts; mustard is good for weed and pest control – and, with its cute cartoon drawings, fun quiz and very informative year-planner, this will appeal to kids just as much as grown-ups.