Kit

I have this completely useless degree in Plant Biology - it comes in useful so often in my job as an office administrator for a mental health charity, as I'm sure you can imagine. One of my favourite, more overall, areas in the course was ecology and that I'm actally finding useful as more and more people are being aware of issues around the planet and the environment.

Because I studied some of the most pressing problems we currently have - expanding populations, food scarcities, environmental pollution, global warming, extinctions of plant and animal species and all the related sociological and polictical problems. They are all, to a certain degree, ecological problems.

Ecology is the study of the organism and it's environment. The concept of environment includes both other organisms and physical surroundings. It involves relationships between individuals within a population and between individuals of different populations. These interactions between individuals, between populations, and between organisms and their environment form ecological systems, or ecosystems. Ecology has been defined variously as “the study of the interrelationships of organisms with their environment and each other,” as “the economy of nature,” and as “the biology of ecosystems.” And the impact humans are having on so many different ecosystems and the planet as a whole is frankly terrifying

Am I say I know everything about them, that I'm some expert? No, of course not. In fact I think the overview of what I learned has made me more aware of what I don't know. I started poking around Amazon to see what books could help bring me back up to speed, expand my knowledger, other than pulling out my old textbooks and one that caught my eye was a DK Publishing book called The Ecology Book

How do species interact with each other and their environment? How do ecosystems change? What is biodiversity and can we afford to damage it?

Throughout history, humankind has tried to order the living world and understand how it works. As our influence on the planet grows, answering these profound questions is becoming more and more pressing.

Written in plain English, The Ecology Book is packed with short, pithy explanations of more than 90 key ideas. Step-by-step diagrams untangle tricky theories, illuminating quotes make the ideas and discoveries memorable, and witty illustrations enhance and play with our understanding of the science.

You'll explore key theories, movements, and events in biology, geology, geography, and environmentalism, from the ideas of classical thinkers and Enlightenment attempts to impose order on nature, to discoveries such as DNA and theories like the Gaia hypothesis. Boxes highlighting "green" issues - the impact of pesticides, the plight of vulnerable species, and the search for renewable energy - appear throughout, as do profiles of influential figures - Charles Darwin, Carl Linnaeus, Rachel Carson, and James Lovelock - which place their ideas in their historical context.

Whether you're new to ecology, a science student, or simply concerned about what's happening to our planet, this is a comprehensive introduction to the environment and climate change - arguably the most important subjects of our time.

I LOVED DK books when I was a kid, there was one on everything and it might even have been one of them that got me interested in plants in the first place. I will definitely be asking Santa for a copy of this one for Christmas

I'm going to start by addressing one of those questions that EVERYONE always asks when I tell them I'm adopted - and I'm always completely open about being adopted. To be fair, as soon as you meet the rest of my family, it's completely obvious as I have a different complexion and don't look like them. It's not something I'm ashamed or embarrassed by, although I do sometimes feel like a walking plot device in an American drama show (insta-backstory, character is either adopted or a functional alcoholic!)

I've known I was adopted since I was maybe 8 or 9. I remember asking why I (and my younger brother) didn't look like my sister or them. I'm strawberry blonde, freckled and pale skinned, my brother is mixed race and our parents are Caucasian, tanned and brunette.

They told me straight out that I was adopted and that my brother is too. I was adopted when I was maybe 3 or 4 months old. My parents are the only parents I've ever known - and the only family I want. They named me. My name is legally the name they gave me. They raised me. They didn't treat Jason or I any differently than their biological daughter. I love them, I love my siblings.

I have no interest in meeting my birth parents, I don't know anything about them. the only thing I know is that they didn't want me. Yes, I know there are a multitude of very valid reasons people give their children up for adoption. I understand that. I also don't care what their reasons were.

I may not have my parents DNA runnng through me, but I have something far more important. Their love.