Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Eager

Eager: the surprising, secret life of beavers and why they matter / Ben Goldfarb, 289 pgs.

Environmental journalist Goldfarb does great work here proving once again that humans are our own worst enemy. First, let's kill a lot of beavers and make hats, then, even when that is passe lets kill them because they keep messing with our rivers and streams.  Water sources that WE KNOW BEST how to manage.  We straighten them and make them flow the way we want.  We drain things and get rid of marshes. Then we have lots of flooding and drought events.  Gosh, if we let mother nature handle this, she puts beavers on the job, they manage the watershed so it can handle the rains and the rivers and streams attract a lot of biologically diverse nature in the form of animals, insect and plants.  Beavers are stereotypical hard workers and they don't need a whole lot of support.  In fact, just leave them alone and they take care of a lot.  Absolutely loved the author's writing style and the research he put into this book.  I'm certainly a believer in the beaver!

2 comments:

  1. They don't seem too into domestication. Maybe I could sponsor one ;-)

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