Francisco Vera.
It also includes some interviews with the Earth and even the ocean…
-The format of the interviews seemed very ingenious to us, very cool and even more so since it is a children’s book and it was necessary to find a simplified language, very simple.
When writing the book, I found it more fun to interview directly affected characters, such as Earth, and have the interviewees tell the reader their role and how climate change affects them.
The book also condenses and reflects several of my passions, such as my passion for reading, because I love eating books, reading books, together with the defense of life and the environment from the territory of Colombia’s biodiversity.
On the environmental issue, how much literature is there for children?
-Yes there are certain books of these subjects directed to children, but I believe that it is necessary to look for an intermediate. There are very good books on climate change, but very complex, while others talk about the subject from a bottomless discourse, which only raises the idea of recycling. The idea is to increase the literature on these topics in simple language but without losing depth.
It is not possible that the greatest threat to humanity, which is not the third world war, is climate change, is reduced to a few words, a few books.
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How did you experience the whole process of making your first book?
-It was a whole process of having the interviews, of having the illustrations that were incredible, along with the pages in which we give tips to be able to help the planet, with a series of actions.
It’s a lot of fun because it’s not a one-read book, but rather an aid to reflect and to help change certain habits. I always wanted a very close and practical book.
From school, how do you see environmental education in the country?
-There is very little environmental education in Colombia. There are teachers who are aware of and know about the subject, so they share all that information, but it is not within the curriculum or a subject dedicated to environmental education. It is a problem in Colombia and much of the world.
Furthermore, without social justice there can be no climate justice. There are children who cannot access education, so it is the first thing that must be guaranteed, because I know children very close to my town who have to go through trails and spend up to three hours to get to study.
Those of us who have the privilege of accessing to study have a duty to make important issues such as climate change visible. Also read: Francisco Vera selected as one of the 100 child prodigies in the world
Francisco, what is it to have eco-hope?
-We dedicate a part of the book to eco-hope, because many people are saying that they suffer from eco-anxiety due to the advance of climate change and that the world could end and it causes them great stress. But instead of that anxiety, we must have hope and faith, demonstrating it through actions that we can apply in our daily lives, because it is a reality that children my age, at this moment, are fleeing global warming, that they are made invisible and marginalized.
It is a reality that exists in countries like Colombia, where there is a serious problem of hunger, but also floods, hurricanes and climatic phenomena never seen before.
What do you say to those who say that climate change is a myth?
-That’s irresponsible. Climate change has been common for the planet since the time of the dinosaurs, which were slow, which took millions of years, but what is happening has occurred over decades. How a species, in such a short time, manages to make a climate change in this way.
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