Climate Action is a fabulous, sturdy, fact filled book that helps children understand what climate change means for us all and how our actions and lifestyles can impact the natural world and the future of our planet. Conversations about the impact of climate change and how we can protect our planet are frequent in our house and this book has stimulated many interesting discussions.
After an introduction by author Georgina Stevens and a forward by environmentalist Elizabeth Wathuti the book is split into four sections – Causes, Effect, Our Part and Inspiration.
Causes looks at the main reasons for climate change including a detailed explanation about greenhouse gases and the pros and cons of different types of energy providers. It also looks at the impact that food production, transport and buildings have on our climate. Effects of climate crisis are evident all over the world and include extreme storms, heatwaves, wildfires and flooding. The planet heating up is becoming life changing for humans, animals and ecosystems.
Our Part looks at how we’ve contributed to the climate crisis and gives ideas as to how we can reduce our carbon footprint and the ways that different modes of travel contribute to it. It also looks at our homes, our clothes and our food and gives ideas as to how we can be more efficient by buying more local produce and taking care that we choose clothes made from more environmentally friendly fabrics.
Inspiration talks to young people from around the world who are making big contributions to protecting the planet’s future. These include Brianna Fruean from Samoa, Greta Thunberg from Sweden and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez from the USA. There’s also an interview with activist Eytan Yoles Stanton and information about how we can all get involved in the climate movement.
The glossary at the back is really interesting to read and we learnt several new words – biochar, carbon sink, green wall and vermicomposting.
Katie Rewse’s illustrations are full of fabulous details and information is broken down into small pieces of text under subtitles. We love the colours used in the coral reefs, sadly complete with plastic waste. This illustration also shows changemaker Adeline Suwana, one of many young changemakers featured throughout the book who provide great role models for young readers and show them that you are never too young to start working towards helping the planet.
There is so much about this book that we love that it’s really hard to just pick a few highlights. The page about Our Homes was interesting, we already collect rainwater and have plants to help improve air quality and Carbon Foodprints takes an interesting look at how much greenhouse gas is produced when food is made. A Hotter World gave us an insight into how our planet and its ecosystems are already deeply affected by rising temperatures, even the impact of one degree hotter shocked us.
Climate Action is a fabulously informative book for conservationists, young and old and hopefully it will motivate readers to make more effort to think about how their daily lives have an impact on climate change. The book brought our attention to so many ways that our actions are contributing to the destruction of our planet and how we can change our lifestyles to help.
Age Range: 5 +
Author: Georgina Stevens / Illustrator: Katie Rewse
Thank you to Little Tiger Press for sending a review copy of Climate Action. For every copy of Climate Action sold in the UK a tree will be planted.
Leave a Reply