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Resources for the First Realm

Resources for the Second Realm

Resources for the Third Realm

Resources for the Fourth Realm

RESOURCES FOR THE FIRST REALM

Terril Shorb's favorite sources

The First Realm of the Butterfly Curriculum in our Sustainable Community Development (SCD) program helps us to better understand the natural world and our relationship with it. This includes learning about the systems and cycles of the natural environment to keep it healthy where it is so, and to help restore the health of ecosystems that have been compromised. The First Realm also can be thought of as natural history in that we hone our powers of observation and deep sense of a place in nature and then record it faithfully and share it fully with other humans so that they can know their "natural neighborhood" and, we hope, appreciate it.

Here are some resources for understanding ecological systems:

Capra, F. (1996). The web of life: A new scientific understanding of living systems. New York: Anchor Books.

Costanza, R. , Norton, B. G., & Haskell, B. D. (1992). Ecosystem health: New goals for environmental management. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Meadows, D, Randers, J., & Meadows, D. (2004). Limits to growth: The 30-year update. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company.

Odum, E. Ecology: A bridge between science and society. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.

Wilson, E.O. (1998). Consilience: The unity of knowledge. New York: Vintage Books.

Wilson, E.O. (2002). The future of life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

And here are some natural history sources that I appreciate:

Corbett, J. (1991). Goatwalking: A guide to wildland living, a quest for the peaceable kingdom. New York: Viking Penguin.

Leopold, A. (1966) A sand county almanac. New York: Ballantine Books.

Lopez, B. (1988). Crossing open ground. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Pyle, R. M. (1993). The thunder tree: Lessons from an urban wildland. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Shorb, T. L. & Schnoeker-Shorb. (1996). The spiders and spirits of petunia manor. Prescott, AZ: Native West Press.

Silko, L. M. (1996). Yellow woman and a beauty of the spirit. New York: Simon & Schuster,.

Williams, T. T. (2001). Red: Passion and patience in the desert. New York: Random House.