The International League of Conservation Writers is a forum to bring writers together from around the world who are writing to promote wilderness, nature, conservation, or using other means to protect and restore the natural areas, habitats, animals, and plants of our planet. ILCW will present periodic writing awards to authors who excel in this field.

International League of Conservation Writers

Writing to inspire the love of nature and a passion for its protection.

           “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

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Member Writings

There’s a Silence Spreading Across the
Natural World

By Donna Mulvenna ILCW member (French Guiana)

"The earth has music for those who listen."

– George Santayana

I see a lot of trees from my office window. Although, I don’t actually have a window. I don’t have walls either. Or a roof. I have a small wooden table, a fold-up chair, and a laptop that sits on an open deck high in the treetops, and nature.

There are also a lot of distractions. More than I ever had in my former office with flickering fluorescent lighting, an air-conditioning unit, people coming and going, a telephone with six lines, and overlooking a busy road. White noise they call it. The scientists that is, who measure the stress-related symptoms that result from a day, in a week, in a year, in a life, listening to background noise.

I can’t say it particularly bothered me because for a few decades I had done a commendable job of blocking it out. In fact, I barely heard any noise that wasn’t directly aimed at me. As for taking regular breaks from looking at my computer screen… I was far too busy for that.

Later, when my indoors office was replaced with the outdoors kind, it was refreshing not to hear a constant hum of an air-conditioning unit, the incessant ringing of phones and the loud rumbling of passing trucks.

Continued

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If you would like to share one of your writings with other ILCW members, send to patty.

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NEWS

Blood Lions Film Touring the US

Blood Lions is a feature documentary that reveals the horrors of cub petting, predator breeding and the canned hunting industry. The film is touring the US during October and the first week of November. See if there is a showing near you. You can also learn how to see the film through other channels at this link.

"More than 65% of hunters who shoot hand-reared South African lions come from America,” said Young. “This makes it critical for Blood Lions to raise awareness about canned hunting in the US. By hosting screenings of the film in San Francisco, Fort Worth, Chicago, San Diego, LA, Vancouver, Seattle and at the Friday Harbor Film Festival on San Juan Island we hope to empower the public to make their own moral decisions; and then take the action needed to stop exploiting and killing our lions."

--Bruce Young, Blood Lions Co-Director

Pandas International

Working to save, feed, and care for the Giant Panda.

Learn more.

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Do you have news?

Let us know if you have won an award, written a new book, or launched a creative endeavor to bring awareness to conservation. Chances are the ILCW membership is not aware of these things, so be sure and tell us. Send items to: patty@ilcwriters.org

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Book Reviews

David Lindo

Tales from Concrete Jungles: Urban Birding
Around the World

2015, Bloomsbury Publishing

Hardcover, eBook, 240 pages with 5 drawings

Born and raised in London, David Lindo's passionate interest in the natural world, especially birds, began at an early age. His thriving curiosity opened a door for him into an unexplored world of urban birding. Years later he decided to champion the delights of birding in cities and reinvented himself as the Urban Birder. Using this illustrious alias David Lindo has brought urban birding back into the public consciousness, promoting its virtues at every opportunity and writing about it in the birding press. He urges people to look up when walking around in cities, or to stop and close your eyes in a busy street just to listen to the birds that may be singing.

In his second book, David visits some of the world's most unnatural environments, revealing the astonishingly diverse range of wildlife that can be found when you take the time to look. Much more than a compendium of birding sites, each tale follows the Urban Birder in his enthralling pursuit of city birding. Accompanied by dedicated local conservationists and renowned birders, David gives a deeper insight into the true nature of each city. Featuring 70 locations to explore, Tales from Concrete Jungles is the perfect book to dip in to when on the move, or to hide away with on a rainy afternoon. Join David in his celebration of nature, pick up travel inspiration, and immerse yourself in his captivating quest for urban birding.

“Lindo... manages to find wildlife havens in every city he visits.” 

Caroline Morley, New Scientist

“It's a hugely energising tome, recasting travel-frowned concrete slabs of the UK and some global stop-offs as secret tweety paradises.” 

Wanderlust

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Adrienne Ross Scanlan

Turning Homeward: Restoring Hope and
Nature in the Urban Wild

2016, Mountaineers Books

Turning Homeward tells the passionate, personal story of one woman finding a home in a new place blended with the bittersweet joys of urban nature restoration. Some chapters explore the unavoidable ironies of home, such as when one non-native transplant (the author) yanks out another (Himalayan blackberry) to create habitat for native flora, or the conflicting needs of homeless people versus native birds, each seeking refuge at a beloved city park. Citizen science is at the heart of several chapters, including monitoring coho salmon die-offs at Seattle’s Longfellow Creek. Whether salvaging native plants or relocating a bumblebee hive, what the author learns about nature’s resilience guides her through illness, her father’s death, and other family challenges. More information:

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Jan van der Greef

Reflections of the Inner Self: Dreams and
Visions of Nature

2014, in English

Hardcover, 158 pages, 136 images

In  his book, reflections of the inner self: Dreams and Visions of Nature, Jan van  der Greef takes you on a journey into moments of Oneness, driven by his passion for nature. An experience of connectivity with all things around you, a state in which thinking, insecurities and judgment evaporate. A book with images of awe and wonder, universal wisdom and short personal experiences related to connectivity, innocence, trust, acceptance and love for oneself. The book connects you through breathtaking and sometimes mystical images with an endless feeling of pure “being” in the rhythm of life. A journey in awareness towards the essence of yourself, in which the inner and outer worlds meet and become one. A path of life towards the ultimate freedom through interconnectedness. Website

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ILCW Members

Come write, do research, and be near wild and protected areas in Colorado while working in the David R. Brower Office of Conservation Writing. Sit at the same desk used by Dave Brower. There is no cost to use the office. If interested apply at: http://www.browerconservationwriting.com/

International League of Conservation Writers  

4690 Table Mountain Dr., Suite 100

Golden, Colorado, USA 80403

Phone: 303-277-1623