For most people, there's little difference between taking a gift that is offered and gratefully receiving a gift. But for author Allyson Jayne Miller, a compassionate conservation bioregionalist, the difference is immense and holds the key to the planet's survival.
In this wise and beautiful story, Miller shares the importance of living sustainably with kindness and compassion-to gently receive from the Earth what it offers instead of greedily taking from it what we want.
Demonstrating the concept of trophic cascades-how ecosystems collapse when key predators are threatened-this story follows Hope, a bright young girl who sets out to save the natural world around her. Along the way, she meets a beautiful cast of characters, including Albert, an old-growth tree; Solomon, a wise old owl who knows the language of trees; Kumulipo, the stately deer; and Nanabushu, the mischievous mountain sheep with a Scottish accent.
Named after ecological studies and indigenous cultures, each of these characters plays an important role in Hope's attempts to mitigate the damage done by humans upon the environment-and together they create a beautiful tale that will open the eyes and the hearts of children of all ages.
About the Author: Allyson Jayne Miller is a compassionate conservation bioregionalist who started an educational foundation to protect Oregon's cougar and wolf populations. She grew up on her family's seven-thousand-acre cattle ranch, often making up songs about protecting the earth as she and her father rode over the open range on horseback.
Miller paid her way through college by joining the military. After graduation, she worked for the timber industry and the Saudi oil cartel, but quickly grew disillusioned with corporate life, moved home, and began farming.
Miller farms in Oregon's Willamette Valley. She inherited a farm owned by her family since 1915, and home to Oregon's indigenous for millennia. She has succeeded to change the homestead's ancient indigenous and early Euro-American farm history, into a permaculture holistic coexistence with nature. Her farm is a miniature version of the vast ranch of her childhood, and she carries in her soul the seeds of conservationist Aldo Leopold-planted by her father so many years ago.
In addition to writing, she is a gifted artist who expresses her heart's feelings through her fingertips.
