Climate Emergency Atlas What’s Happening – What Can We Do takes a fascinating and in depth look at our earth’s climate, what climate change is and how it’s affecting our planet. Although Thursday 22nd April is Earth Day every day should be Earth Day, our planet desperately needs our help. But this book has some great suggestions as to what we can do in our daily lives to slow the impact of climate change.
A forward from Liz Bonnin, science, natural history and environmental broadcaster, explains that the way we live is harming our planet. She has been privileged to meet scientists who are working on various environmental projects but she emphasises the fact that we need to play our part too.
Climate Emergency Atlas is a sturdy hardback made with Forest Stewardship Council certified paper, Dorling Kindersley has pledged to consider the environmental and social impact that they have and their Green Pledge outlines the ways in which they are doing that.
The book is divided into four sections which have full colour photographs, maps and fascinating facts. There is also reference to the pandemic and how that has affected various aspects of climate change.
How Earth’s climate works: Vocabulary such as greenhouse effect, carbon cycled carbon footprint are explained and the difference between weather and climate. It’s a great introduction to understanding climate before the effects of climate change are explained in more detail.
The causes of climate change: Population growth, air travel, the fashion industry and disappearing forests all contribute to climate change. A picture of the India Gate in New Delhi shows the difference between air quality before and after the pandemic, taken just five months apart the pictures show just how much the air quality is affected by certain types of fuel.
The impacts of climate change: Global warming is contributing to changes in our weather, rainfall and drought, melting ice and animal habitats. All over the world people are having to leave homes that are threatened by climate change and extreme weather.
Action on climate change: It is really interesting to read about how different countries are taking action and setting targets to reduce emissions as well as working together on a worldwide scale. We were amazed by the size of the world’s largest solar powered facility in California. The ‘Changing how we live’ page is fascinating and shows worldwide initiatives for reducing human impact in the climate – turning plastic fishing nets into carpets, paying people to leave their cars at home and changing cow’s diets so that they produce less methane, to name but a few.
At the end of this final section is an encouraging list of suggestions which summarise the ways that we can ‘live green’, save energy and stay informed as individuals.
A glossary at the end of Climate Emergency Atlas explains vocabulary in more depth and there is an extensive index which also highlights where you can find the main information on a particular subject. The endpapers are fabulous too, they show clear maps of the world to refer to while reading.
Climate Emergency Atlas is a fabulous reference book for home and school. We learnt so much about how our actions now and in the future have an impact on climate change. It was particularly interesting to look at the situation from a global perspective – to read how countries across the world are affected and how they are working to minimise the impact and protect the environment.
Age Range: 7+
Author: Dan Hooke / Consultants: Professor Frans Berkhout / Professor Kirstin Dow / Forward: Liz Bonnin
Thank you to Dorling Kindersley for sending a review copy of this fascinating book.
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