The book comes out at the beginning of March in England and is aimed at 7-11 year olds. For Tony Juniper, the objective is to provide facts on greenhouse gases and the role of human activities in global warming, the occurrence of drought, more intense floods, or even rising waters.
Often presented as the unofficial adviser to King Charles III on environmental issues, Tony Juniper has just written a children’s book with him on climate change, a book which comes out in early March, but which is already getting a good media coverage. And it is true that it is quite new. We do not imagine Queen Elizabeth signing a book on the climate, which she has not done, neither on this theme nor on another, but here we are, times are changing, the role of monarch too.
Tony Juniper and Charles III are not at their first book: five years ago, when the king was only a prince, they published a book on the issues of climate change for adults. Now king, Charles III has a duty to remain politically neutral, and precisely, Tony Juniper convinced him that this subject was, that it concerned absolutely everyone, Labor and Conservatives, rich and poor, adults and children.
Bringing the facts to 7-11 year olds
The book therefore answers the questions of 7-11 year olds, it details the mechanisms of the climate, the greenhouse effect, the role of the oceans, forests, and of course human activities. Why are sea levels rising, why are droughts increasing? At a time when the cliffs in the south of England are collapsing into the English Channel and when the Thames partially dried up last summer, all this is perfectly relevant. “The goalexplains Tony Juniper to the BBC, it is to put the facts within the reach of the youngest, that is to say of those who have the most to gain from finding solutions.“
At 62, Tony Juniper is not a climate specialist, director of Natural England, his specialty is zoology, specifically birds, but he explains that everything hangs together: climate, biodiversity, nature. “Often, people think that this subject is only an option, when it is the opposite, it is the heart of our societies, the fauna, the flora, the rivers, the soils form the fundamental base of all our economy, of all our lives. ” Understanding it is within the reach of a child. Do you need a royal book to realize it? And will it be necessary for the little ones to explain it to the adults?