Letters to the Earth (2019) Introduced by Emma Thompson and illustrated by Jackie Morris.

‘Drill baby drill’.

That’s been the response of the moron’s moron Trump and his followers. It makes meetings of heads of states COP 25, COP 26…meaningless.

Short-term thinking.

Extinction Rebellion has lost its lustre. All around the world, eco activists have been reclassified as terrorists. Chief Seattle, ‘The Earth is our mother. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself’.

It’s that old argument. The terrorists are the ones already in power. So here we are. A book, published by the big four (or five) publishers wasting more paper for a good cause, a noble cause, which has been quietly pushed aside.

We are experiencing a ‘global near-death, experience,’ writes Jem Bendell.

Who cares?

There are lots of messages from children. They care. They are the adults in the room. But when they become adult will there be a world for them to care about?

Will the worries of the world grown on them and they forget? Begin to talk like everybody else about all that green crap?

‘Why Should We Care?’ Heydon Bushell, 12 asks.

My dad said that we should worry about out own life, not the rest of the world. It won’t affect us…Between 10 000 and 100 000 species are becoming extinct each year, so I will worry about the world now.

‘Dear White Climate Activist,’ writes Minnie Rahman.

Well, the Trump and friends of the moron’s moron that watch Fox News are (like the rest of us) mostly non-readers-- a  book like this would not be bought.

But a meme war might be fought over such a headline to hang lots of hate on the wrong heads, with claims of media bias and fake news.

The Global South will be the first to face floods, droughts, poverty, hunger and poor health due to climate change.

But they’re not American.

Rahman suggest we’ve seen the same pattern emerging in the UK as the good old USA. An increase in patterns of ‘anti-migrant, xenophobic and racist narratives’. Rounded out as common sense.

She suggests we’ll never solve the climate crisis until we tackle these narratives. Expose the structural inequalities and injustices perpetuated by morons like Trump, whose solution of lock them up and kick them out relies on narratives of us and them and not common humanity.

In other words, we’ll never solve the climate crisis.

‘A Failure of Imagination.’

‘Why didn’t we save ourselves when we had the chance?’   

Caroline Lucas MP puts the question in italics to show it requires a serious answer.

‘The Time is Now.’

‘There is no Planet B!’ Dulcie Deverell 14, and Edi Rouse, 14, remind us.

They’ll be 20 or 21 now. I wonder what they think now about ‘the future of our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and for the future of our entire race.’

They’ll think differently. We all do. That’s the rub. We should ask our younger selves, what matters most. I’m old. My grip on the world is declining. We are perhaps the first generation to leave the world in a worse place than we found it. I like to think we can change. But I’m not so sure. I hold onto a glimmer of hope we might make a better world—unlikely as it seems—not because of but despite those that hold us back. Read on.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CVBVVGD6