The Paper's reporter Wang Yu
The unpredictable weather, the colorful rainforest, the magical plants, and even the vegetables on the table, nature contains everything that humans need, nourishing and feeding us.
However, due to the lack of scientific understanding of the ecological environment system, people are always unconsciously in a position of control when dealing with the relationship with the natural world, believing that the natural world only exists because "everything is for people". As a result, indiscriminate deforestation, polluting rivers, burning land, killing animals and other behaviors have occurred repeatedly, and the resulting biodiversity has been destroyed and various disasters caused by climate warming have continuously sounded alarm bells for human society.
Therefore, when talking about how people and nature should get along, we should understand the value and importance of nature by contacting nature and getting close to nature, so as to cherish nature and protect nature. Only the more we know, the more we can get to know the beautiful home around us.
The Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait
[United States] Bassheba Demus, translated by Liu Xiaohui; Yilin Publishing House; May 2022
The Bering Strait, also known as the Bering Land Bridge. The coastal inhabitants come mainly from three linguistic groups, namely the Inupiadians, the Yupyaks and the Chukchi. Anyone but them are outsiders. But in the long 20th century, Norwegians, Poles, African Americans who had previously been slaves, Germans, Uzbeks, native Hawaiians, etc. all came here.
It is a comprehensive historical work on the Bering Strait, the Arctic land and sea from Russia to Canada. By telling the history of the animal and mineral resources of the Bering Land Bridge, the author reveals how humans have transformed the ecological wealth of this remote area into economic growth and national power for more than 150 years, and re-examines the neglected landscape of the Bering Land Bridge with a fresh perspective.
In the book, Demus uses his own experiences living with locals, and using interviews with locals and related archives, to reveal the dynamic changes and unforeseen consequences of human needs and ambitions for this resource-limited planet. Like many environmental historians, Demuth no longer subscribes to the view of the impact humans have had on the Earth system, which the British historian Collingwood made in the 1930s, that nature and humans must have different histories. In Demus's pen, the history of nature and human beings is intertwined, and human beings and their concepts interact with non-human parts such as regions, animals and plants, and mineral resources.
Lightning and Thunder
Lauren Ridneys, translated by Luo Shubao; | Houlang, Beijing United Publishing Company; May 2022
This is a book of memories about the weather, but also a book of weather about memory, which uses samples of human stories to collage the long tug-of-war between us and nature, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in conflict.
Humans will realize their own ideas according to the weather, but the weather can be ignored, can assist, or may be regurgitated. From islands near the Arctic to the Atacama Desert in Chile; from witch hunts in Europe's Xiaoice river period to "rain-making programs" that turned the tide during the Vietnam War; from geoengineering that tried to artificially alter the climate to the weather forecast formulas of the Old Lunar Book... The author collects weather-related adventure stories, social news, historical events, folklore and technological applications, mixes up thousands of years of tension between humans and the weather, and takes us to observe the rapid changes between the weather and the anomaly in a kaleidoscopic vision.
Meteorological changes are perceived and experienced through the senses of living beings, and they still attract and confuse everyone with uncertainty, possibility and complexity.
The Invitation to the Tree
[French] by Victor Gutar, translated by Hong Yue; Beijing United Publishing Company| Houlang; April 2022
Throughout the ages, trees have been poetic symbols and mythological symbols, nourishing many societies and religions. This massive perennial organism can be seen everywhere. Even in the cities, we are fortunate to be with more and more trees. However, will we get tired of them one day?
Of course not, human beings have always had a strong interest in trees, and trees are only just beginning to reveal their secrets - it can allow animals to eat, have a place to live, and purify the atmosphere to form a beautiful landscape; trees provide wood, fruit, seeds, oil, and even paper, and have a place in human social and economic activities. It is estimated that more than 1 billion people depend directly on forests for their survival.
With simple and easy-to-understand hand-drawn illustrations, the author presents readers with a panoramic view of a tree, not only a detailed analysis of 75 common trees distributed around the world, but also an introduction to a variety of amazing cold knowledge behind the trees, which is a "tree knowledge illustration" suitable for all ages. At the same time, it is also an invitation from the trees - meet the maple trees in the depths of the garden, meet the giant sequoia in the park, intersect with the plane trees on the side of the street, meet the pine forests in the mountain forest, and invite you to know the trees in life.
"Very Plants"
[French] Francis Arey, translated by Guo Qianye; Beijing United Publishing Company| Houlang; April 2022
French botanist Francis Arey, armed with a sketchbook, explores tropical rainforests around the world for forty years. This time, he invites readers to walk into the rainforest and visit the amazing plants - trees that "walk", grass that "dances", trees that live with ants, forests that are "cloned"... The evolutionary processes and adaptability of these plants are often beyond our comprehension, stimulating our imagination, arousing people's curiosity, and arousing people's heart for the protection of tropical rainforests.
In this book, the author will not discuss the tragic and grand theme of "The Tragedy of the Rainforest", but will talk about unexpected and interesting things in the rainforest from the perspective of intimate and easier plants. In his writing, the rainforest is a rather magical little universe, showing their lives in front of occasional visitors, responding to the pursuit of beauty and the pursuit of poetry.
What kind of surprises can plants give? How interesting are their stories? I hope you can reacquaint yourself with a wonderful rainforest through this book.
"Vegetables in China"
Pingzhen Zhang; Houlang, |, Beijing United Publishing Company; 4 February 2022
People take food as the sky, good food and vegetables first, vegetables are the longest emotional companionship on the Chinese table. The cultivation of vegetables in the mainland has a long history and a wide variety of varieties, and in the process of thousands of years of development, a rich and splendid vegetable culture has gradually formed. However, due to the vast territory, ethnic groups and different dialects, all kinds of vegetables and their names have shown a wide variety of names and mixed realities, whether in the life and interaction of modern people or in the vast number of ancient literature and classics.
In the book "Vegetables in China", Zhang Pingzhen, a senior vegetable research scholar, systematically explained 276 kinds of Chinese vegetables into 18 categories, mentioning more than 5,000 titles for various vegetables, basically including the entities and titles of existing major vegetables in the mainland. In addition, a comprehensive and detailed scientific popularization and cultural interpretation of the categories, origin areas, cultivation history, origin of Chinese vegetables, word-making methods and their eating guidelines and health care common sense were extensively reviewed.
Where is the hometown of spinach; where did the nickname "jade plate" of bamboo shoots come from; what kind of vegetable was actually the "felt" that Su Wu mu mu swallowed when he was hungry; who was the Qing emperor who loved to eat cabbage and wrote poems for it; how the mushroom circle on the Mongolian steppe was formed in the Ming and Qing dynasties; how to make the best artemisia that grew "when the puffer fish wanted to go up"... The cold knowledge of vegetables that you don't know is all in it, and there are also "Chinese Vegetable Names, Other Names overview" and "Vegetable Latin Literary Names", which can be called "vegetable culture one book".
Editor-in-Charge: Ying Xu
Proofreader: Shi Gong