Model and activist Lily Cole has narrated a digital children’s book all about climate change, which aims to help parents talk to their children about the environment.
The book — Is This My Home? — is aimed at children aged between 5 and 8 years old, and follows the story of a little girl traveling around the world in search for the answer to the title question.
It shows, through the eyes of the girl and the animals she meets, that we all share the same home, the Earth, and aims to inspire children to love their environment.
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The book, which is available in four languages and features illustrations by South Korean illustrator Yeji Yun, has been launched by Danish renewable energy company Ørsted.
“We can already see the extreme effects of climate change and we need a green industrial revolution that is unprecedented in size and scale to address this,” said Matthew Wright, UK managing director at Ørsted, in a statement.
“Our book launch is aimed at helping parents and children have positive conversations and make green decisions that will impact all of our futures,” he added.
According to a survey carried out on Ørsted’s behalf, around 70% of UK parents want more knowledge about how to combat climate change, and over 60% want to be talking more to their kids about the issue.
Meanwhile, some 45% of parents reported being asked questions about climate change by their children, and over half said the reason they didn’t talk to their children more about the environment was because they feel they don’t know enough about it.
Right now, a huge movement led by children and teenagers working to combat climate change is sweeping the globe — inspired by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Thunberg’s activism gained international attention after she delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January that went viral.
“Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people to give them hope,” she said. “But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic.”
“I want you to feel the fear I feel every day,” she continued. “And then I want you to act. I want you to act as if you were in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house was on fire — because it is.”
Her activism inspired a wave of protests across the world in January and February, with tens of thousands of children and teenagers walking out of school on strike over the global failure to take proper action on climate change.
Strikes have been carried out in around 270 towns and cities worldwide, including across many countries in Europe, the UK, and the US.
Global Citizen headed to the march in London to find out what was inspiring activists to take matters into their own hands — you can read more about we heard from those who had walked out of school here.
As well as the ebook, Ørsted has created an online platform where parents can access tips on how to talk to children about climate change; find answers to difficult questions on climate change; and find tips on family activities to prevent the changes, and how children can take environmentally friendly action every day.
The book is available for free from Apple Books and the Kindle Store, or is downloadable as a PDF. As well as narrating the ebook, Cole has also voiced an online video version that can be found here.