Nature underfoot : : living with beetles, crabgrass, fruit flies, and other tiny life around us / / John Hainze ; illustrated by Angela Mele.

• VerfasserIn: Hainze, John,
• TeilnehmendeR: Mele, Angela,
• Place / Publishing House: New Haven ;, London : : Yale University Press,, [2020]; 2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xvi, 254 pages) :; illustrations

Fruit flies, silverfish, dandelions, and crabgrass are the bane of many people and the target of numerous chemical and physical eradication efforts. In this compelling reassessment of the relationship between humans and the natural world, John Hainze, an entomologist and former pesticide developer, considers the fascinating and bizarre history of how these so-called invasive or unwanted pests and weeds have coevolved with humanity and highlights the benefits of a greater respect and moral consideration toward these organisms. With deep insight into the lives of the underappreciated and often reviled creatures that surround us, Hainze's accessible and engaging natural history draws on ethics, religion, and philosophy as he passionately argues that creepy crawlies and unwanted plants deserve both empathy and accommodation as partners dwelling with us on earth.

Table of Contents

Introduction -- Anthropocene winners -- Nature at work -- Inadvertant domestication : the pets we didn't want -- Anthropocene invasions -- The unlucky : Anthropocene extinctions -- Human exceptionalism? -- Coexistence -- Valuing our Anthropocene partners.