It’s been a year (and a strange and difficult one at that) since we watched millions of kids worldwide take part in climate change protests. While it was exciting to see young people engaging with this important issue, I started to think a lot about climate change and fear in kids.
I came at this as someone who as a young teenager in the early 1980s was absolutely paralysed by the fear of a nuclear holocaust and what it would mean for my future. I can remember a couple of docu-movies that were made at that time showing our impending doom. I can remember having sleepless nights, planning how I would survive and imagining what my eventual death would be like. And I can remember being bemused by the lack of fear and urgency in the adults around me. Over the years, I’ve met other people of my age who went through the same thing. Of course in our case, it wasn’t something that we felt we would ever have control over, but there was still a feeling of adults destroying the world and us having no way of stopping them.
By October 2019, it was becoming apparent that many children and young people were suffering the same feelings about climate change that I had about a nuclear holocaust in the 1980s. And that’s when I saw an uplifting, intelligent and rational article by Dr. Alex Standish (@AlexStandish9).
We contacted Alex and asked if he would write a book for us about climate change and we were thrilled when he said, yes! The book, Making Sense of Climate Change is published this month. It’s an informative, sensible and optimistic read that we hope will find it’s way into every school in the UK and beyond!
By Ruth Owen