In her new book, Neha Sinha offers "brilliant and nuanced explorations of curiosity and belonging."

In today's world, it is easy and important to "get out into nature" even in busy, noisy, and polluted cities.

Paying attention to nature is an act of care and an act that can ground us and make us happier.

Many people live among amazing wildness in unexpected places, including noisy, bustling, dirty cities and in their own neighborhoods.1 Not everyone is privileged to live in wild environs and among the reasons I was attached to conservationist Neha Sinha's new highly-acclaimed book, My Wild City: Finding Nature, Meaning, and Hope in India’s Capital is that she shows how easy it is to get out into nature in unexpected places. In her beautifully written book, she "uncovers the wild creatures, ecological histories, and deep sense of meaning that can be found in any city—and indeed, any place—in the world.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write My Wild City?

Neha Sinha: I think My Wild City came to me through the braid of love and loss. There were many creatures I loved growing up – fireflies, hoopoes, Gyps vultures. They seemed so odd; I wondered how they would speak. The vulture would be polite and aloof; the firefly would be an absolute zinger, and the hoopoes looked like punks in suits. However, as I grew older, I realised these animals were gone from Delhi, and other places I looked at in India. I also realised we were suffering from generational amnesia – many of my peers did not even remember having seen them. Someone pointed at a (still abundant) Black kite and said: look, there’s your vulture. There are worldwide declines of migratory........

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