The Houston Sierra Club has suspended in-person monthly General Meetings for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency. As a substitute this month we are offering an online video program, which can be viewed at home at a convenient time.

 

This month we feature a video presentation with Doug Tallamy, a noted entomologist and professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. He has authored two influential books, "Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants"  and "Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard".

 

 

Excerpts below from Doug Tallamy's "Bringing Nature Home" website:

 

Because the reach of human development has disrupted or destroyed natural habitat in so many places, local extinction is rampant and global extinction accelerating. This is a growing problem for humanity because it is the plants and animals around us that produce the life support we all depend on. Every time a species is lost from an ecosystem, that ecosystem is less able to support us.

 

We must abandon the notion that humans and nature cannot live together. Though vital as short-term refuges, nature preserves are not large enough to meet our ecological needs so we must restore the natural world where we live, work, and play. Because nearly 85% of the U.S. is privately owned, our private properties are an opportunity for long-term conservation if we design them to meet the needs of the life around us.

 

To succeed we need to redesign residential landscapes to
1) support diverse pollinator populations and complex food webs,
2) store carbon, and
3) manage our watersheds.

 

Doug Tallamy Talk, "Restoring Nature's Relationships":