Signs of Life: Field Notes from the Frontlines of Extinction

Winner, Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Awards for BC Authors (Non-Fiction)
Shortlisted, City of Victoria Book Prize
Shortlisted, Lane Anderson Award

What’ s to be done when only three spotted owls are left in Canada’ s wild? When wolves eat endangered caribou, cormorants kill rare trees, and housing developments threaten a tiny frog?

Environmental journalist Sarah Cox has witnessed what happens when we drive species to the brink of extinction. In Signs of Life, she tags along with the Canadian military, Indigenous guardians, biologists, conservationists, and ordinary people who are racing to save hundreds of species before it’ s too late.

Travelling across the country, Cox visits the Toronto Zoo, home of Canada’ s only wildlife biobank, where scientists conserve living cells from endangered species in the event of future loss; tours Canada’ s military bases, home to some of Canada’ s last preserved ecosystems; and travels to Indigenous communities where land stewards are striving to restore the delicate ecological balance that has sustained people for millennia.

Through the eyes and work of individuals who are bringing species back from the precipice, Cox delivers both an urgent message and a fresh perspective on how we can protect biodiversity and begin to turn things around.

Sarah Cox is an award-winning author and journalist based in Victoria, B.C. In May 2022, Cox won the Canadian Association of Journalists’ Award for Environmental & Climate Change Reporting and her investigative reporting for  the Narwhal  has also been awarded the World Press Freedom Award and the Canadian Journalism Foundation’ s Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism. She has also won a Gold Digital Publishing Award with her colleagues at  The Narwhal  and previously won two Western Magazine Awards.

Cox’ s 2018 book  Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’ s Stand Against Big Hydro  won a B.C. Book Prize and was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing (Writers’ Trust of Canada) and the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature.