There is much gloom and doom regarding climate change and pollution, and much of it is warranted. We are facing threats unlike anything our planet has experienced before. My goal was to write a hopeful, optimistic book for young readers, explaining the challenges we face, while spending just as much time and effort on solutions, highlighting kids who are already stepping up to create a cleaner, more sustainable world. My take: we can have everything we want and need, but do so with less stress and harm on the only home we have. We already have the technology needed to embrace this brave, new, lower-carbon world. But do we have the will to match our words with actions?

 

Young people are fired up, engaged and already pushing us into a smarter, clean-energy future. Gifted artist and illustrator Chelen Ecija and I collaborated on this project to show that every threat is an opportunity for a re-do, a chance to change, pivot, reimagine  and reinvent a world where future generations work together to make sure every child can grow up and prosper on a healthier planet – an inevitable future where we tackle water, air and plastic pollution, a future where we avoid a worst-case climate warming scenario and costly weather extremes. A Kid’s Guide to Saving the Planet provides practical solutions and expert advice on how we can emerge into a cleaner, greener world…hopefully sooner than anyone thought possible.