Our Green Heart, Diana BeresfordKroeger
Our Green Heart, Diana BeresfordKroeger
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Our Green Heart
The Soul and Science of Forests

Author: Diana Beresford-Kroeger

Narrator: Diana Beresford-Kroeger

Unabridged: 6 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/03/2024


Synopsis

AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

In this inspiring culmination of Diana Beresford-Kroeger’s life’s work as a botanist, biochemist, biologist and poet of the global forest, she delivers a challenge to us all to dig deeper into the science of forests and the ways they will save us from climate breakdown—and then do our part to plant and protect them.

As the last child in Ireland to receive a full Druidic education, Diana Beresford-Kroeger has brought an unusual and ancient holistic attitude to the science of trees, which has led her to many fresh insights into how closely we are tied to one another and to the natural world. Her influential message is to pay rapt attention to trees, because they are the green heart of the living world. Forests are our lungs, our medicine, our oxygen and the renewal of our soil. Planting the right trees in the right places, protecting the last virgin forests and working to create new ones is our best means to ensure a future for our children and grandchildren on this burning earth.

Each of the essays gathered in Our Green Heart show us a slice of the natural world through Diana’s unique lens, illuminating the way our health, individually and as a species, is tied to the health of the forest—a tie we ignore at our peril. She maps the science that still needs to be done—there is so much we don’t know about the ways trees and forests work—but also, eloquently, shows us the path to survival that her own science has revealed, the “bioplan” or blueprint for the connectivity of life in nature. If we realize that even the flowerpot on our doorstep is a natural habitat, and plant it according to its bioplan, we will be aiding and abetting life rather than destroying it.

About The Author

DIANA BERESFORD-KROEGER, a world-recognized scientist in the fields of medical biochemistry, botany and medicine, has spent a lifetime interpreting science for the general public. In 2023, Dr. Beresford-Kroeger received the University College Cork Distinguished Alumni Award and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Kamookak Medal.  She is the author of a number of bestselling books on nature. Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest won the Arbor Day Foundation Award for an exemplary educational work on trees and forests. In 2020, she received the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award for her autobiographical To Speak for the Trees. She is the author and presenter of the feature documentary Call of the Forest, which is based on her book The Global Forest. Beresford-Kroeger continues her research and writing in her private arboretum in Eastern Ontario, Canada.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jackie on August 02, 2024

I love the mix of Druidic wisdom, science, and stories of her botanical experiments. The chapters can twist and turn with so much information, but you encounter wonderful surprises! One moment I’m reading the science of why aspen trees sound the way they do, and the next moment I’m discovering why t......more

Goodreads review by Zahra on September 03, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. At the start of reading Beresford-Kroeger’s work, I was hesitant, as I was worried that it would be based in less-than-scientific reasoning. I don’t know why I assumed that, now that I’ve finished reading i......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on September 10, 2024

Words can’t express how important this book is, and how much I think everyone needs to read it. We hear about climate change all the time - taxing billionaires, stopping greenhouse emissions, going vegan to help the environment, blah blah blah. But this book truly breaks down what is happening in ou......more

Goodreads review by Nathan on February 26, 2025

Lovely mix of poetry and fact, culture and science. It fills a similar niche to Braiding Sweetgrass, but through a different cultural lens that values nature and trees just as much. Read this book and plant some trees......more

Goodreads review by Meghan on January 25, 2025

If you don’t have a background in Science this book will be a little tougher to follow, but it is AMAZING. I got so many goosebumps and a few tears were shed when it was finished. This is a must-read.......more


Quotes

“Ethereal. . . . [Diana Bereseford-Kroeger’s] discussions weave together botany, physics and personal reflections with aplomb. . . . Readers willing to accept a dash of the mystical with their science will be entranced.” Publishers Weekly

“In its captivating tone, [Beresford-Kroeger’s] latest book consists of essays about nature, spirituality, and climate change. She dances artfully between scientific and poetic language [and] her engrossing storytelling ability shines.” —Literary Review of Canada

“The world’s forests may lack a voice of their own, but they have a powerful ally in Diana Beresford-Kroeger. . . . Our Green Heart is the latest tool in Beresford-Kroeger’s arsenal for galvanizing people to combat climate change by supporting trees.” —Zoomer

“Diana Beresford Kroeger writes powerful essays about the natural world.” —CBC Books