Healthy ecosystems are important to the more than eight million different species that live on Earth, including humans.

But over the centuries humans have damaged and changed the environment that we all depend on for our survival. We cut down forests, dam rivers, build cities and pollute the air, water and soil. That's where ecological restoration comes in. It aims to reverse the degradation of ecosystems, like grasslands, mountains and forests, on every continent and in every ocean. These are big goals, so everyone will need to step up!

In Taking Care of Where We Live, readers will explore restoration projects, big and small, around the world, from the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami program in Pakistan to the Green Corridors project in Colombia. They’ll also find out how to take small actions for the ecosystems in their own communities, such as learning about the land where they live and the people who lived there, planting native plants and trees and helping to remove invasive species. By putting our best human qualities together, we can repair some of the human damage to the planet and help make the its ecosystems healthy again.

Merrie-Ellen Wilcox is a writer and editor in Victoria, British Columbia. She is the author of What's the Buzz?: Keeping Bees in Flight, which is part of the Orca Footprints series and After Life: Ways We Think About Death, which was short-listed for both the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award and the Norma Fleck Award. When several huge Garry oak trees were cut down at the end of her street to make way for a parking lot, she became a passionate defender of the trees and the ecosystem they are parts of. She studied ecological restoration at the University of Victoria and continues to naturescape her garden.

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Amanda Key is an illustrator and graphic designer from Nanaimo, British Columbia. Her art centers around the natural landscape of Vancouver Island and draws from her childhood spent finding flowers, hiking trails and spotting animals. With a strong focus on observation and natural science, each design piece offers a chance to learn a bit more about her surroundings.

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