I remember fondly the Ladybird books from my childhood and this little volume fits right in to the well-written and illustrated Expert Book series.
Although it says it is written for an adult audience, my 9 year old great-nephew had no trouble reading it and he enjoyed the pictures too. There are colour illustrations, maps, charts and graphs which all contribute to the reader’s understanding of the importance of climate change. As is customary with serious academic publications, the text has been peer reviewed by scientists at the Royal Meteorological Society.
Prince Charles has been a champion of environmental issues and sustainability for over 40 years, practising what he preaches by using organic farming on his estates and speaking out on climate change and global warming. Tony Juniper is an environmental campaigner, writer and adviser working for change toward a more sustainable society at local, national and international levels. He is a Special Adviser to the Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit and a Fellow of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). Dr Emily Shuckburgh is a mathematician and climate scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, member of Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, and the Cambridge Forum for Sustainability and the Environment.
The information is presented clearly with a page of information facing an illustrated page. Topics covered include: Climate change in the distant past accompanied by a picture of woolly mammoths being hunted by early man; Acid oceans facing a page of beautiful coral juxtaposed with a picture of dead, bleached coral; Energy solutions; and finally One Earth – reminding us all that we have nowhere else to live and we need to take care of the only planet we have.
The format of Ladybird books means the topic cannot be covered in great depth but this should be seen as a positive rather than a negative attribute of the text. Running to just 50 pages, with half of that illustration, the book nonetheless provides a great introduction to the subject of Climate Change which one hopes will inspire readers to learn more about how they too can contribute to mitigating the growing problems associated with global warming.
Reviewed by Jan Kershaw
Rating out of 10: 9
Released by: Penguin Australia
Release Date: February 2017
RRP: $19.99 hardback
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