Food miles
A patch from Scratch by Megan Forward inspires us to: Grow your own vegetables and reduce food kilometres, reliance on supermarkets and reduce plastic waste. Herbs are a great place to start as many places always wrap herbs in plastic – and they are quite easy to grow!
Changing weather
Grimsdon Series by Deborah Abela
Deborah Abela wrote these books when she was mad – and probably still is – at the inaction of government. You can feel the passion for the environment through the main characters and their fight for survival through terrifying storms, hoverboards, rescue eagles and still corrupt government!
Song Bird series by Karen Tyrell And here too
Aspects of children showing that they can save the world without the help of adults is great, and although the adults do give them a helping hand here and there it really shows how important it is for us to allow children to make a difference and for their voices to be heard too.
Changes to Animal migration
The Great Lizard Trek by Felicity Bradshaw and Norma MacDonald
Not only do we learn about these lizards we also learn that they are having to move from the places they have always lived because of climate change. Many lizards cannot cope well with extreme heat, lack of water, too much water or lack of shelter. And we often forget that reptiles play just as an important role in the ecosystem as mammals and marsupials do – not as cute and cuddly so they just don’t get the attention.
Weird, Wild and Amazing by Tim Flannery
Each chapter outlines facts about how climate changes is effecting particular animals – mostly negative, although the jelly fish will be quite happy! And because of this, this book is a great tool to use to show children just how important it is for us to act now – not later – as it isn’t just us who will be effected by the changes, most animals will be harmed too.
Windcatcher by Diane Jackson Hill
An excellent discussion point in this story is the single page about the plastic that is ingested by thousands of birds every day. Plastic is one of the key threats to many sea birds and they mistake it for food or take it in while feeding on fish.
Hope
We need hope and we can change – so try these books out to show how much a small action can make a HUGE difference
One Child by Christopher Cheng
This book is so powerful. You will feel inspired and your children will feel inspired to do something now, to make a difference so they can live in a better world not only for themselves but for everyone they know.
Something that I have placed at the heart of my own blog comes through this book – we can all make a difference.
We can all do something small which can result in something big.
The Tomorrow Book by Jackie French
Many environmental books are filled with doom and gloom – as the media tells us that is where we are headed. BUT with imagination, creative thinking, problem solving and open minds, tomorrow can be a wonderful day where we harness the sun’s energy, we repair things instead of throwing them away, we each have our own veggie patch and wind power is just another form of easy to use energy.
Jackie French is a marvellous story teller and through this book she ignites ownership of the world in children and a belief that they can all make a difference to the world they live in.
I hope you can make a difference by sharing these stories – let me know~
