Breathe and meditate with these inspiring summer reads

The green revolution has begun. Here are two readings to help you question our relationship with nature and the plant world. 

La nature n’est pas un selfie (French language)

Summary   

Defending the idea of a global and unitary nature, the author notes that humanity is mobilised for a distant nature, but is unconcerned about the one that surrounds it on a daily basis. By explaining the distance that man has established with his environment as a result of the acceleration of time, he argues that the effects of global warming on ordinary nature are being overlooked. ©Electre 2023  

  

Back cover  

We are running out of time and we never have enough of it. Our attention is constantly being drawn to a new experience. Our attention is diverted and we lose sight of what is essential. Our relationship with nature is also affected by the acceleration of time. We see nature as a fragmented whole from which we can derive a few pleasurable emotions, and we rush to nature parks to observe the extraordinary. We forget that nature is a unit. The fight against climate change fails to mobilise us for this reason. We take offence at the disappearance of an exceptional species of animal or a prodigious natural site, but we no longer pay attention to the ordinary nature around us. Yet what climate change is affecting is ordinary nature, the nature that provides us with the conditions we need to live on earth. To get out of this vicious circle, we need to redirect our attention to ordinary nature and take the time to renew our relationship with it.  

  

Here is the link to order it from the Mollat bookshop.

La révolution des plantes : comment les plantes ont déjà inventé notre avenir (French language)

Through this documented account, we discover the range of discoveries that have been made from or through the observation of plants. One of them, now proof of concept, is looking for an entrepreneur to revolutionise our food model.  

  

Summary  

The biologist describes the secret life of plants, showing their capacity to learn, innovate and remember. These discoveries provide creative solutions to the ecological and technological problems of the 21st century. Galileo award for popular science.  

  

More details  

Do people realise how important plants really are to human life? Most people know that they produce the oxygen we breathe and that they form the basis of the food chain that sustains all the animals on Earth. Although entire sectors of the economy depend on plants, we are far from knowing everything about them.   

Every year, 2,000 new species are discovered and described. More than 31,000 different species have well-established uses, such as construction, food, medicine, textile fibres and building materials, social, energy, environmental and poisonous uses – a tenth of them.   

Stefano Mancuso shows us that we have much to gain not only from what they produce but also from what they can teach us in terms of adaptation.   

Plants are in fact a model of modernity, with their use of diverse materials, energy autonomy, ability to resist hostile environments and adaptation strategies. Plants have found the best solutions to the problems facing humanity.   

  

This is the link: https://www.mollat.com/livres/2309837/stefano-mancuso-la-revolution-des-plantes-comment-les-plantes-ont-deja-invente-notre-avenir