Environmental Interpretation is the first truly applied treatment of environmental communication written specifically for people with big ideas and small budgets. Drawing on 20 years experience and the successes of his colleagues worldwide, Sam Ham presents an unusually diverse collection of low-cost communication techniques that really work. More than 200 illustrations, photos, and technical insets provide simple instructions for designing and implementing effective education programs in forests, parks, protected areas, zoos, botanical gardens, extension and community programs, and in all kinds of agriculture and natural resource management programs. Aside from its step-by-step, "how-to" approach, what sets this volume apart is its solid theoretical foundation. Readers learn not only how to communicate their ideas more forcefully but why the methods work. Some 20 case studies, carefully selected from throughout the Western Hemisphere, stimulate the imagination and show how others have successfully applied what this book is about. Written for beginners and experts alike, the book represents a valuable resource for anyone faced with the need to communicate about the environment yet constrained by lack of money and experience.

Applied Interpretation: Putting Research into Practice offers practitioners, managers, and students of interpretation a source for interpretive theory, techniques, strategies, and experiences that have been shown, through research, to be successful in conveying interpretive messages. This resource is the product of 16 years of research that has evaluated traditional programs, school field trips, and visitor center and campfire programs. The findings, offered through vignettes and case studies, are the product of long-term assessments that range from three months to three years following an interpretive experience.

Modern environmentalism has come to realize that many of its key concerns—“wilderness” and “nature” among them—are contested territory, viewed differently by different people. Understanding nature requires science and ecology, to be sure, but it also requires a sensitivity to history, culture, and narrative. Thus, understanding nature is a fundamentally hermeneutic task.

Nature interpretation in the Nordic countries is a book about communication between nature interpreters and their participants in our landscapes. It´s about first hand experiences of nature and the importance of to paying attention to what is inspiring and fascinating, especially valuable or threatened. And about possibilities to reflect over the relation between human and nature. Educators, researchers and interpreters contribute with articles about nature interpretation it theory and practice. The book is written for everyone who is interested in how interpretation can contribute to a sustainable future, nature conservation and areas in society like public health, democracy and the right for all citizens to visit and experience nature. The purpose is to inspire nature interpreters to offer more and even better experiences and learning in the Nordic nature and cultural landscapes.

This book is uplifting and inspiring as it enhances the reader's understanding of how to compellingly interpret our cultural and natural legacy. The 15 guiding principles set forth in this book will assist anyone who works in parks, forests, wildlife refuges, zoos, museums, historic areas, nature centres, and tourism sites to more effectively, and joyously, conduct their work. This book, updated and in its second edition, has been used internationally and has been translated into Chinese. It serves as inspirational reading for students in environmental education, forestry, conservation, history, communications, outdoor recreation, and park management.

This TEMA-Nord report is a result of a one-year project with all of the Nordic countries participating. The primary goal of the project has been to collect, develop and mediate a series of good examples of how nature interpretation, aimed at children and young people, can encourage children's understanding of nature, and inspire them to involve themselves with questions on humans nature and thus help contribute to sustainable development. Several issues should be considered when planning nature interpretation activities if nature interpretation aims to lead to sustainable development. These points of view are concerned especially with how nature interpreters can encourage children and young people to take ownership, to be involved with their body and mind, and to reflect and put the experience and the activities in nature into a wider context.

In the new edition of the international bestseller Environmental Interpretation, Sam H. Ham captures what has changed in our understanding of interpretation during the past two decades. Ham draws on recent advances in communication research to unveil a fresh and invigorating perspective that will lead interpreters to new and insightful pathways for making a difference on purpose through their work.