“Nature’s Best Hope:” conservation at home

Doug Tallamy discusses his new book, "Nature's Best Hope" about how to turn our yards into wildlife supporting habitat.

Listen 49:13
Monarch butterflies in the University of Delaware Botanical Garden in Newark, Del. (Douglas Tallamy/Timber Press via AP)

Monarch butterflies in the University of Delaware Botanical Garden in Newark, Del. (Douglas Tallamy/Timber Press via AP)

Guests: Anthony Leiserowitz, Doug Tallamy

If American’s replanted half of their lawns with native plants, shrubs and trees, we would have more wildlife habitat than all the national parks combined.  University of Delaware entomology professor DOUG TALLAMY makes a case for a “homegrown national park” to support declining bird and insect numbers. We’ll talk with Tallamy about how individuals can make a difference by planting native species in their yards, gardens or patio containers. His new book is Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.  But first, many climate scientists and activists worry that in the midst of the pandemic, concern about climate change will fall by the wayside. But a new survey shows that surprisingly, people’s opinions about global warming haven’t changed. ANTHONY LEISEROWITZ, lead author of the new study and director of the Yale Program on Climate Change explains how Americans are thinking about climate change during the COVID-19 crisis.

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