"In Swamplands, Ed Struzik takes us on a journey into the world's vanishing fens, bogs, and marshes-revealing fascinating details about the importance and intricacy of this "endangered ecosystem." Millions of acres of peatlands (the broader name for this kind of habitat) are drained each year to create access to tar sands, and land for agriculture and industrial development-and to harvest peat for garden fertilizers, whiskey distilling, water filters, and feminine sanitary products. And yet, these ecosystems are as biologically diverse, and globally important, as rainforests: home to an incredible diversity of life that just happens to be mostly bugs and smaller critters-not the charismatic species that other protected area systems have been built around (grizzly bears, orangutans, etc.) Ed explains the value of these ecosystems-water quality, carbon storage, and who knows what else because we haven't really studied them in great detail!-while clearly explaining the mounting threats to their existence. We worry about endangered animals and have programs to attempt to save them-but, he asks, what about an endangered ecosystem? We still have time to protect what's left of these remarkable places, but people need to know they exist-hence, this book: Ed's love letter to a kind of place only the hardiest of human souls can spend much time in, but which has vast implications for our planet remaining livable; and a call for awareness and protection of these special, unique places"--