La naturaleza de la naturaleza: Por qué la necesitamos

by Enric Sala

In this inspiring manifesto, an internationally renowned ecologist makes a clear case for why protecting nature is our best health insurance, and why it makes economic sense.

Enric Sala wants to change the world--and in this compelling book, he shows us how. Once we appreciate how nature works, he asserts, we will understand why conservation is economically wise and essential to our survival.
Here Sala, director of National Geographic's Pristine Seas project (which has succeeded in protecting more than 5 million sq km of ocean), tells the story of his scientific awakening and his transition from academia to activism--as he puts it, he was tired of writing the obituary of the ocean. His revelations are surprising, sometimes counterintuitive: More sharks signal a healthier ocean; crop diversity, not intensive monoculture farming, is the key to feeding the planet.
Using fascinating examples from his expeditions and those of other scientists, Sala shows the economic wisdom of making room for nature, even as the population becomes more urbanized. In a sober epilogue, he shows how saving nature can save us all, by reversing conditions that led to the coronavirus pandemic and preventing other global catastrophes. With a foreword from Prince Charles and an introduction from E. O. Wilson, this powerful book will change the way you think about our world--and our future.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Biology, Ecology, Climate Change

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2020

About the author

Dr. Enric Sala is a former university professor who saw himself writing the obituary of ocean life, and quit academia to become a full-time conservationist as a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. He founded and leads Pristine Seas, a project that combines exploration, research, and media to inspire country leaders to protect the last wild places in the ocean. To date, Pristine Seas has helped to create 22 of the largest marine reserves on the planet, covering an area of 5.8 million square km.
Sala has received many awards, including 2008 World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader, 2013 Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award, 2013 Environmental Media Association Hero Award, 2016 Russian Geographical Society Award, and 2018 Heinz Award in Public Policy. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Reviews

[L.G. Cullens · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rewarding, informative book that lives up to its title. The forward by HRH The Prince of Wales, and the introduction by Edward O. Wilson, are what piqued my interest in this book. And, as can be seen in the preview, the latter half of chapter one where the author notes what he covers in the book also aroused my curiosity. That despite thinking I already knew a good part of what the book might say. I saw it as meaningful reading that we all could benefit from in broadening awareness. I'm happy I did read it as I found the writing straightforward, learned more than I expected, and because of the manner in which the information is presented it helped coalesce and reenforce my understanding.

To quote any aspect of this book that I thought stood out would be to diminish the cumulative importance of all that it conveys, so I'm refraining from noting any particular points of interest. Instead, I can only say that, to me, ignoring this book suggests fostered ignorance and disregard for our and our children's futures. Harsh maybe, but I believe the pursuit of reality based, meaningful knowledge by a critical mass of humanity is the first step in potentially mitigating the consequences of the dire environmental conditions we are creating. It isn't through real understanding and wisdom that we got ourselves into this pickle.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." ~ Albert Einstein

[Farda Hus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was informative and awakened my awareness.
I love the book that can make me grateful about life. This book did just that. It made me realize how animals, plants, fungi and all the nature beings collaborate so harmoniously to serve us human "life", and it made me aware how ungrateful and greedy we have been to destroy that "perfect mechanism" just to gain more and in the end we have only made mess
Thanks to this book, now i became conscious about the nature that has always given me something so precious but i took it for granted all this time. Now i want to thank them with my actions in the future and i will tell my little daughter how grateful we should be , and how we should not just take but also give something back to the nature with our actions and awareness.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. An alternate title for Enric Sala's "The Nature of Nature" is "Everything is Connected." As he states in his book, it is so very important to look at the world as one ecosystem full of obvious connections and much less obvious connections. The ecosystem is deserving of protection. It is also so very important to continue to value science and push science forward for better understanding of our environment and the effects of how we live our lives has on the world.

This book is filled with fascinating stories from Sala's own work experience as well as accounts of experiments that show just how interrelated everything is. Written in a way that excited my interest enough to read further about some of the things he talks about in this book, this book has the power to ignite curiosity and determination in protecting our world.

Shortly before this book was printed, COVID-19 started making its way around the globe. Recognizing that this zoonotic disease represented a great example of why it is so important to take care of our world and ensure resilience, he and the publisher pulled the book back to write one more chapter on COVID-19 and everything we know so far. It was fascinating (and a bit jarring) to read about this thing that we are very much still facing and some of the lessons that I have already come from it in a very short amount of time!

This was a fascinating read that left me ruminating how much work has been done as well as how much work there is still to do!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book tremendously, even though I am already part of the converted, so to speak, of having an ecological view of the world and our place in it - part of a living web of life and not dominant over everything else. Sala writes with passion and tells the personal journey of how he got into wildlife conservation, the devastation he has witnessed but also amazing pristine wild places he has visited over the course of his career. Along the way basic and key concepts of ecology are explained, from energy flows and food webs to succession and trophic cascades. I particularly liked how he explained our seeming disconnect with the resource limits of nature due to the unlocking of fossil fuels, which is essentially the accumulated stored energy in once living biomass. So many books on nature and wildlife fail to make the leap to our own human ecology, a sad reality of our compartmentalized knowledge systems.

But energy resources are not the only limits. Carbon pollution leading to devastating climate change, and increasing susceptibility of our society to zoonotic diseases like Covid-19 as we encroach and further destroy wild places can also eventually put up barriers to our species' continued unbridled expansion. In this respect, the book builds a strong case for the increased protection of nature so as to preserve and even rebuild biodiversity for the myriad essential services and benefits it provides. What comes across strongly is the author's love of nature, which will hopefully rub off on readers, and surely the most important reason of all to save it.

[torri · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like it when science people are funny it makes me feel less stupid <3

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fascinating book. I have been interested in and studied nature for some time, but once again my mind is blown by the complexity, interconnectedness and sheer beauty and wonder of the natural world.

"Let us all envision the overview effect experienced by astronauts who have seen Earth from space, understanding that it makes no sense to base our behaviour on a set of ethics that applies only to our most immediate social network, and that we must see ourselves as part of an integrated whole, interconnected to, dependent on, and responsible for the entire natural world. It's our moral imperative."

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enric Sala nails the issues of our day including the Covid-19 crisis - with a refreshing shift of perspective - reminding us to keep science and nature central to our lives, economies and societies for everyone's gain. Dark and paralyzingly overwhelming as our current issues are, with climate change and unprecedented habitat and biodiversity loss, Enric offers hope and solutions grounded in success through his own work and other conservation titans. The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild is a very accessible, fun and quick read with wonderful case studies and ways for each of us to inform our decisions so we can give back to the natural system that supports us.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enric Sala studied algae in his academic career.  While completing his field research, Enric noticed that he was writing about their demise.  To help save the ecosystems he loves, Enric became a National Geographic Explorer in residence working with the Pristine Seas Project.  In The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild Enric Sala presents clear reasoning about the need and benefits of preserving and restoring nature.  
Written in a way that any reader can understand and making analogies to the world we know, Sala highlights our connections to nature and how much we rely on and attempt to control nature without fully understanding the systems that control it.  Beginning with the basics of biology combined with observations from fieldwork, Sala presents the harsh truths about the consequences of our actions for the planet.  The chapters naturally flow through the importance of a good foundation for a healthy ecosystems, studying nature as a method to help understand ourselves, the impact of keystone and foundation species, and trophic cascades.  This underscores the interconnectedness that we may never fully understand, but feel that we must change and control.  Sala calls attention to the importance of systems that we can not see and the fact that our actions are long reaching and can more negative impacts than we can ever imagine.  Most of all, Sala has made a case that simple changes, such as leaving an ecosystem alone can have bountiful positive impacts on biodiversity along with monetary gains for humans.  The Nature of Nature gives us a solid reason why we should care about the environment and all the evidence for sustaining and preserving natural areas.  It is simply up to us to decide what to do about it.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

[Carol Ritter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro es un manifiesto para la protección de nuestro soporte vital, la naturaleza.

Se me hace difícil expresar lo necesario de la lectura de este libro, del despertar y de la gratitud que siento por científicos ecologistas como el gran Enric Sala, que luchan incansablemente por aquello verdaderamente necesario (vital) como es la protección de la naturaleza. Ya sea con datos, con proyectos como el maravilloso Pristine Seas de National Geographic (creado por el propio autor) o con la escritura de este libro cercano e incluso espiritual.

El mensaje es concebirnos como lo que somos, solo una parte más de este gran ecosistema en el planeta, la biosfera, pero con una responsabilidad enorme, que no puede ser olvidada y, después de este libro, siquiera refutada. No hay argumento en contra de la protección de la naturaleza que Enric no haya dejado sin refutar. Incluido aquel que menos beneficia al ser humano, el económico.

Este es un libro escrito por una persona con muchísima dedicación y muchísimo amor. Cada vez que leo a más científicos y científicas cuya área de estudio es la naturaleza, más veo esa fuerza espiritual y amor de comprenderse solo una pieza de este gran puzzle que es la biosfera.

Vuestra dedicación y palabras llenan mi corazón de amor y esperanza.

[Ariadna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A veure... per parts:
D'entrada, com a divulgador l'Enric és un crack, i es nota en cada frase, o sigui que m'ha ajudat molt en aquest sentit, per veure com sintetitzar i fer idees més entenedores per a tothom. Això ok.
Llavors, és un llibre que no està fet per a mi; una persona que vulgui saber una mica de biodiversitat i biologia marina o bio en general, sense tenir gaire idea, doncs segur que li encantarà, però si estudies això, et trobaràs que la majoria de coses que explica ja les saps, i que molts cops te sabe a poco el que diu.
I llavors per últim, tenim el problema de l'Enric. Un gironí biòleg marí que s'ha convertit en un americà de cap a peus. Em fa una pena tremenda, no ha pogut ni escriure el llibre en castellà/català sinó que l'ha escrit en anglès I LI HAN TRADUÏT.
En fi, un senyor que jo amb 16 anys ja idolatrava i que evidentment m'ha decepcionat amb les seves xerrameques de dolàrs, PIB, religions?¡?... en fin, que es veia a venir havent viscut tant de temps a usa, però igualment fa ràbia igual. Entenc per què ha fet el llibre així i té tot el sentit del món i a ell segur que li servirà, però a mi no m'ha agradat.

[Adam Carrico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book. It’s a good general overview of ecosystems and their importance. I was concerned at first because it uses like 40-point font, but it was scientific enough to not be too basic. In addition to information that was simply interesting, it felt like it came with actionable paths forward. My favorite sections dealt with exploitation between ecosystems and subsidization of our current energy use with (finite) stores from the past.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to understand and nicely written book focused on understanding the interconnected ecosystems of our world, and what we need to preserve it. The author ultimately realizes that just showcasing the beauty and joy of nature is not enough and also presents economic justification for preserving our planet. Well done.

[Michèle Marchand · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author makes this book very easy to read and understand even if you don't have any background in science or conservation. Every chapter was fascinating and really drove the point home that ecosystems on earth need to be preserved. Would recommend everyone to read this.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for anyone interested in ecology and the climate. Some very moving statements/facts and statistics. I enjoyed a lot of the stories from the author and his fellow scientists in different parts of the world.

[pearlyshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A love letter to the planet.” Damn right it is. Every turn of the page was a revelation to me. Thank God for scientists like Enric Sala for reminding us the importance of protecting our Earth. This made me quite emotional, I’m crying for Mother Nature and my inner geographer in me is wailing *queue Pocahontas OST*. But, in a more serious note, this book is great for anyone who wants to understand in detail how nature works and trust me, you’ll be amazed. I was worried that this would be a boring read but Enric Sala wrote it with such care and persuasion that it’d leave you feeling inspired and hopeful.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's refreshing and inspiring to read about the protection of nature from someone who has actually accomplished the protection of nature. I stand in complete awe of what Enric Sala and his team have accomplished with the Pristine Seas program at National Geographic and his foundational understanding of ecology, his admirable set of ethics, and his political tenacity to make marine protection happen. This is a close look at the career and life of someone who did not just seek to understand the world, but also to change it.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enric Sala shares research that suggests why humans need the wild.

Here are some of my rough notes from this book:

Living beings don't just occupy their habitat; they can actually create their own habitat.

"Competitive exclusion principle" is where two species that compete for the same resource cannot coexist at constant abundances. When one species has an advantage over the other, it will dominate in the long term.

Volterra and Lotka suggested that there would be periodic oscillations in the abundance of predators and prey. But Gause had a surprise: The predators eat all the prey and subsequently become extinct because of the absence of food.

As an ecosystem matures, the number of species in any given area increases. (Odum and Margalef)

And though this doesn't seem exactly related to nature..."The gross domestic product is the golden idol that most governments use to measure development. GDP...is used to estimate an economy's size and rate of growth---but it's one of the worst indicators for human prosperity. First it does not factor into its calculus the destruction of the natural world...Second, it assumes the only value of a society is what can be measured as part of an official, organized market. Third it does not measure well-being and happiness."

"If we want a diverse and rich world, we need to keep the predators there."

[H.Sapiens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo dobra książka popularnonaukowa. Nie ma lania wody, dobrze zaznajamia z tematem, jest o tym, o czym obiecuje, że będzie. Wszystko jest dogłębnie wyjaśnione i poparte badaniami, a przemyślenia autora natury moralnej czy filozoficznej również dopełniają całość wartością dodatnią c:

[Shayali Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved reading this book

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, sweet book about how vital Nature is to Humanity and how we, collectively, are trashing it. The main subject of this book is biodiversity. It includes lots of information on how biodiversity is measured. It turns out to be quite a complex task to assign empirical values to such an intricate interwoven web, but the author does a great job of explaining the complexity and the rationale behind the methods that he and other experts are using. The author then goes on to explain why our current rate of loss of biodiversity is so concerning.

The wild is here in all its glory because it's what has worked throughout the history of life on our planet. Every interaction that didn't really work isn't here anymore. Only what fits in the giant puzzle remains. The irony is that the fate of all the species on which our very existence depends is in our hands. And we are squeezing them off the planet at a rate second only to the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. We have become the asteroid.

Whenever I read a book like this I feel like the author is merely preaching to me and other members of the same choir – people who already sense, and to a large degree understand, the moment of peril that we are now in. The remainder of humanity – the vast majority of the planet's population – are either unaware of the peril (for a large variety of sometimes legitimate reasons) or have willfully deluded themselves into refusing to accept its reality.

Because the second category of people is such a huge majority, I believe that most of the optimistic (and increasingly desperate and necessary) proposals in this book (and in other books like it) will never come to fruition. The sad truth, IMHO, is that the civilization that we all are so dependent on is on an inevitable collision course with catastrophe due to our neglect, abuse, and greedy and selfish exploitation of the planet's natural living ecosystem – a system on which that very civilization depends.

We are not going to change our ways. We are not going to make the necessary sacrifices, as minor as they might need be, for the promise of a better tomorrow for future generations.

I sincerely hope I am wrong.

[Momma Leighellen’s Book Nook · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are all connected. No matter your beliefs or political party or race or status.

“Our planet is a miracle. It does not matter whether you believe in an omniscient God or cosmic dust. We’re traveling on a spaceship at 107,800 km/hr around a star traveling 69,200km/hr in a galaxy with 400 billion other planets. What makes Earth truly unique is life. Life on Earth with it’s mind-blowing intertwining complexity is the greatest miracle humanity has ever known.”

This book takes a very complex topic and breaks it down into simple terms. The author, Eric Sala, works with National Geographic to explore how the natural world works through detailed scientific research and experiments. Once we appreciate how nature works we will understand why conservation is economically wise and essential to our survival. The book highlights the consequences of some of our common land and water use activities and provides practical solutions for change. It even describes the societal and economic benefits to such change. It reminds you that yes, your actions do matter.

This book reminds us that we can’t just keep harvesting, reaping, burning, and building without an equal and opposite reaction of some kind. Somewhere along the lines of science and prosperity we have lost the awe and wonder that comes with nature. We need to humbly act in empathy and respect for this place we have so graciously been gifted. If we can creatively reassess, we can still emphasize profitability while restoring the natural world.

This is well researched and timely. There is even a chapter at the end dedicated to Covid. It serves as a reminder that the actions in one part of the planet can affect every other part.

Thank you to @tlcbooktours and @enricsala for a copy of this book!
#thenatureofnature

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very basic book about why we need nature; as he writes, "a step-by-step crash course in ecology" or "ecology for people in a hurry" (pg 23).
He defines an ecosystem as "the community of living organisms and the physical environment they occupy" (pg 29). Ecosystems are never status and self-regulate, providing us humans with valuable benefits.
He also argues that GDP doesn't factor in the destruction of the natural world and externalizes such devastating consequences in favor of manufacturing capital (ie. if a flood destroys a town, the rebuild will positively contribute to GDP) (pg 72).
A keystone species has an effect on the entire ecosystem and removing it will drastically change the community and ecosystem.
The SLOSS debate--single large or several small? Is it better to protect one single large area or several small ones?
Scientific studies recommend that we safeguard half of our Earth to preserve biodiversity, while managing our activities responsibly in the other half (pg 159). It's an ambitious goal.
Mitigating agricultural practices alone could lower global temperatures as much as 25% of the 2C goal set by the Paris Agreement (172).
His discusses how we were so willing to donate to preserve and rebuild Notre Dame, but we aren't so excited about doing the same for forests (210-211).
He ends the book by talking about COVID-19 and how humans encroaching on the wild makes us more susceptible to these types of pandemics.

[Bartłomiej Falkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A monumental book about why modesty and respect should be integral elements of people's approach to nature.

Enric Sala provides many astonishing examples of how complex and wonderful organic processes and ecosystems are. (like System Theory!) Unfortunately, he also provides a lot of examples of how fragile those are and how easily could be distorted by humans.

Even though most of the time I was literally enchanted by the content and depth of the message, unfortunately I couldn't get rid of the feeling of sadness. The level of abstraction and complexity of nature seems so great that it is difficult for me to imagine the acceptance of the author's ideas by society as a whole. Utopian is the word I'd use to to describe it at the moment. But hey, maybe (and hopefully!) I'm just too pessimistic...

[Idarken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is indeed a crash course and I've already known most parts of it, so I read it  to refresh my knowledge. It is nonetheless the kind of book that makes me want to  leave behind the urban jungle, all of the things I don't really need and to truly study and experience nature instead. Fight for biodiversity like Enric Sala. And not just read a book about it.😂😭
There are lots of examples of trophic cascades and intact food chains, lots of empirical evidence why we need them intact. I find many parts to be eye-opening, like the analogy of cities like New York, which are overripe systems that take most of their resources, food, water, energy from elsewhere- they exploit other systems, having low productivity in ecological terms. 

[Saul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Są takie książki, które uważa się za te, które „każdy powinien” przeczytać. To jest właśnie taka książka.
Fakty i sposób ich przedstawienia powinny przekonać każdego, komu bliska jest łączność z Naturą, a kto czasem powątpiewa w zgubny wpływ homo sapiens na biosferę, a w konsekwencji na nasz, ludzi, dobrostan i zdrowie.

Chciałoby się „otworzyć internet” w dowolnym miejscu i dowolnym czasie, aby z zapartym tchem śledzić jak cała ludzkość jednoczy się w idei uczynienia połowy globu i oceanów strefą chronioną, a czerwone paski mainstreamowych mediów śledzą stan bioróżnorodności, a giełda dopinguje wzrostom indeksów ochrony i przywracania życia na planecie Ziemia…
Chciałoby się.

[Luz Poulard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un excelente libro para aprender un poco sobre la base de la ecología, cómo funciona el planeta tierra, porque es tan importante la naturaleza y porque hay que protegerla tanto para nuestro propio beneficio como el resto del ecosistema. Rápido de leer y entretenido! Todas las personas deberían leerlo. Es un libro de difusión científica, explica los conceptos y eso creo que es lo mejor de este libro, ya que es para todo publico. No esperen un libro técnico para eso hay otros libros, desde mi perspectiva de bióloga marina es un excelente libro para acercar a las personas a la ecología.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've become increasingly aware of the destruction humans have had on the environment after losing my job to climate change a month ago. Gone are the days where we can live in blissful ignorance about our reality. The time for change is now. This book has me seriously considering a career in environmental policy. There was so much he didn't say but was implied, too, like implicating a vegetarian diet.

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talking about the very important topic of conserving and preserving nature, this book explains the need for this so wonderfully.
Stressing on the immense value of biodiversity and the impact it has on our lives in every sphere, the author drives home the need to tailor our actions to protect our environment, the habitats of our animals and the forests.
The natural world is brought alive and what it would mean to lose it vividly portrayed.

[kulisap · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟

a really good read!!! a mixture of memoirish storytelling, data-driven narrative, and science/nature writing. sala lays down complex topics in easily understandable wayㅡwould recommend to beginner readers on ecological collapse, conservation, and the significance of nature/wildlife in our lives. quite impressed with how it managed to compress a variety of important topics into short yet compelling and educational chapters.

[Emily Hales · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading a lot of nature/environmental books recently, but I’m not a scientist, and a lot of these big concepts go right over my head. Sala breaks down ecology in a clear, accessible way – demonstrating how everything on our planet is connected. For a relatively short book, I feel like I learned so much. Not only does Sala warn of the damage we’ve done to the planet, though, he also shows a clear way forward and hope for a better future. If you’re looking for a “crash course” on environmentalism, climate change and our role in it, this was wonderful.