June 5th is World Environment Day. It’s run by the United Nations Environment Programme (love that Brit spelling!). This years topic is the melting icecaps.To mark this important day, we are bringing you TWO interviews for the price of one during our noon hour! Lucky you!
First we will hear a rebroadcast of an interview we did a couple of weeks ago with George Monbiot. His book is called Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning. (Okay, there has been some controversy in the office over the title. Is it “How to Stop the Planet Burning” or “How to Stop the Planet from Burning“? In keeping with the authors nationality and the British spelling of today’s designation, I am going with the title as it was printed in England, which is, How to Stop the Planet Burning. But so you won’t be confused when you go to the bookstore to buy this book, I have placed the American version of the cover above.)
And then….Dr. Timothy Foresman. He is actually the former chief scientist for the United Nations Environment Programme. But more importantly, I think, he is thinking critically about how to introduce children to the concept of climate change and the effect it will have on their lives and all the rest of the flora and fauna in the world. His new book is called The Last Little Polar Bear: A Global Change Adventure Story (order it here). When I was talking with Marc about doing this interview, I said to him, “I think that young kids today fear the effects of climate change and are terrified of it in the same way that, when YOU were a young kid, you were afraid of the Russians launching nuclear bombs and destroying life as you knew it.” I think a lot of kids want to know what they can do to really make a difference, going beyond simple duck-and-cover. This book helps them understand the science (the what, when, where, why) of climate change, and also explores the emotional toll of losing some of the world’s most beautiful megafauna like polar bears.
Hope you enjoy the show!
-Jessica Phillips
