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We hope that you all had a great Fourth of July! Today, instead of our usual newsletter, we thought we would share with you some of our favorite conservation-oriented books. We hope you all get a chance to do some reading this summer!
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 Forests
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Forest Bathing
By Dr. Qing Li Viking Press, 2018
If you have ever taken a forest bath, then you understand its healing power. This book is the definitive guide to the therapeutic Japanese practice of "shinrin-yoku" -- how immersing yourself in the woods helps to one to find spiritual peace and contentment. It may sound a bit new-agey, but having had my first forest bath a little over a week ago, I (Monica) can honestly say it works. What is lovely about this book is that it contains more than 100 color photographs from forests around the world. So even if you cannot take an actual forest bath, you can take a virtual one. Dr. Li, who is the world's leading expert in the forest medicine, shows how forest bathing can reduce your stress levels and blood pressure, strengthen your immune and cardiovascular systems, boost your energy, mood, creativity, and concentration -- all good! And for another book on this topic, I am looking forward to The Joy Of Forest Bathing by local D.C. author Melanie Choukus-Bradley, which is due out this October.
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 Land
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The Lost City of Z
by David Grann Vintage Books, 2010
If you love exploration and a good yarn about the quest for hidden treasure, then this book is for you. The author, journalist David Grann, tells the story of famed British explorer Percy Fawcett who spent a lifetime searching unexplored regions of the Amazon for the Lost City of Eldorado or "Z." Fawcett disappeared in the Brazilian jungle in 1925, with his eldest son and a small party of men who had been determined to overcome the elements to find fame and a lost civilization that was legendary for its sophistication and riches. Fawcett was not the only explorer in his day or since to try to locate the city -- indeed, many others also perished looking for "Z." But none so well-documented his efforts as did Fawcett, leaving Grann a treasure trove to study in his own quest to find "Z" and solve the mystery of what happened to Fawcett. Grann cleverly intersperses his own adventures with tales of bravery and deprivation from Fawcett’s quest, which keeps the book moving quickly through space and time. The book evokes both the day of the great explorers-- when the U.S. National Geographic Society and the Britsh Royal Geographic Society funded ambitious expeditions into the unknown, and made heroes of the men who lived to tell their stories of discovery and wonder. It also well-describes the Amazon both of that time -- its dense, lush forests where the insects alone could drive a man mad -- and today, when clear-cutting has reduced the Amazon rainforest drastically in size.
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 People
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Lab Girl
by Hope Jahren Vintage, 2017
This emotional and compelling autobiography has won national several awards and rightly so. It is both a wonderful personal story about overcoming financial and emotional hardship, about friendship in work, and about trees and the wonders of the natural world. Geobiologist Hope Jahren has dedicated her life to the study of trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. You will learn plenty about all those topics by reading the book, but it is so much more than that. It is a celebration of science and scientists and their curiosity and dedication to explaining natural phenomenon that most of us don't even stop to think about as we go about our daily lives. She recounts her difficult childhood, the gender bias experienced by many women scientists, and her own struggles with balancing motherhood and career. At this moment when the "Me Too" movement is raising awareness about discrimination and harassment experienced by women in many career fields, Jahren tells how she too faced down discrimination in academia and found supportive men who backed her personally and professionally. And at this time when science is under attack and funding for science is shrinking, she also humanizes and validates the importance of science for advancing our society.
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 Oceans
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Into the Raging Sea
by Rachel Slade Ecco, 2018
This new book has made several summer must-read lists. It is the story of the worst shipwreck in modern times, the sinking of the cargo ship El Faro in September 2015 while it sailed from Jacksonville, Florida to San Juan, Puerto Rico. How could a ship equipped with satellite communications, a sophisticated navigation system, and cutting-edge weather forecasting capability sail directly into the path of an oncoming powerful hurricane? And yet they did and the captain and crew were never seen again. This book reconstructs what happened on that fateful journey, with gripping and personal details. Journalist Rachel Slade recounts the voyage and all the crew's anxiety and the officers' tragic miscalculations and errors. It is all the more remarkable because much of the story is recounted in the words of the officers and crew themselves -- from the tapes recovered from the ship's black box recorder and the subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. And in the end, the book reveals the truth about our aging merchant marine fleet, the cutthroat business of modern shipping, and how much more at risk we all are due to violent storms fueled by global warming. This is investigative journalism and storytelling at its best.
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 Animals
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Devotions
by Mary Oliver Penguin, 2017
Mary Oliver's poetry is so simple and true, just reading it will make you feel the power of nature. Here is one of her poems as a sample.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
© Mary Oliver
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 Food
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Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health
by The Moosewood Collective Simon & Schuster, 2009
One of our favorite environmental books is a different sort -- a cookbook! The Moosewood restaurant in Ithaca, New York was founded in 1973 and has been a major influence on plant-based cuisine around the world. Moosewood's food was an early testament that vegetarian food can be delicious, filling, and isn't just for people who have a penchant for patchouli (not that there's anything wrong with that!). This cookbook has hundreds of fresh and flavorful recipes that are a really good starting place for people looking to transition to a plant-based diet or are just looking to cut down on meat consumption. As a vegetarian, I (Miro) get asked all the time what I eat and I often refer curious people to this book to get a better sense of the kind of foods that are available to vegetarians. One of my favorite recipes in this book are the Greek veggie burgers (I make them with a side of tzatziki).
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