HRH Prince Charles

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Charles III co-authors children’s book on climate change King Charles III co-authors children’s book on climate change

As a social scientist whose work has focused on communicating climate change, the authors invited me to comment on an early draft, because they wanted to reach a broad audience. I gave the same advice to the prince’s co-authors as I would anyone else, based on the growing body of research on public engagement with climate change: whichever audience you’re hoping to engage with on climate change, it makes sense to try and connect with everyday experiences rather than abstract data and projections. Repeatedly, our research at Climate Outreach has pointed to the importance of authenticity in campaign messaging: although climate change really does pose catastrophic risks, screaming about climate catastrophe is not necessarily a good strategy if the people on the receiving end don’t see the same risks. Although in many ways undeserved, there are also lots of negative stereotypes around ‘typical’ climate activists, and the ‘doom and gloom’ that characterised many early climate campaigns.Presenting the story of climate change – the science, the consequences and most importantly our options for responding to it – in a way that doesn’t ruffle the feathers of the notoriously sceptical right-leaning UK press is certainly a major step in the right direction. A recent Ladybird book on climate change achieved something few books on climate change do: it got read (or at least bought) by large numbers of people.

Prince Charles hopes Ladybird book will win over sceptics Prince Charles hopes Ladybird book will win over sceptics

The book could easily have fallen foul of the often poisonous political wrangling over climate policies in royalist media such as the Daily Mail or Express, if the tone was not carefully chosen. Die "Ladybird Expert Books" richten sich an interessierte Laien und wollen schwierige, wissenschaftliche Themen einfach erklären.

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Part of the new Ladybird Expert series, Climate Change is a clear, simple and enlightening introduction to one of the most important issues facing our world today. The illustrations by Ruth Palmer deserve a special mention – they are attractive and very evocative of those of the original Ladybird books. Ladybird books, however, did not feature in Steve Jones’s childhood in Aberystwyth. ‘I was a Welsh speaker and couldn’t really read English, and I was also a complete nerd. Mostly I read books about geology.’

Climate Change (A Ladybird Expert Book) (The Ladybird Expert Climate Change (A Ladybird Expert Book) (The Ladybird Expert

When the team were thinking about new titles and what topics children might be interested in, climate change and the importance of protecting our world was something we really wanted to explore," Walden said. Why, I ask, should we read a book about evolution? ‘The most important thing is that it’s simple. And the second most important thing is that it’s fun,’ Jones replies. His book is a pared-down version of Darwin’s The Origin of Species. It begins with the revelation that whales are what became of hippo-like creatures that lived in the Himalayas 55 million years ago. Co-author and environmentalist Tony Juniper added: “It is vital we take action now to avoid the worst consequences of global heating and part of our plan must include empowering young people. This is not about passing the problem to them but helping to ensure they are armed with the facts and thus in a stronger position to urge that changes are made to protect their future. There has been no more effective or committed champion of this cause than the former Prince of Wales and I am sure this book and his words will help to keep things moving in the right direction.”The greatest challenge was to boil down a broad and complex topic to some 5000 words, without losing essential nuance, while keeping it readable. Our primary concern was to ensure the robustness of the evidence presented in the book and hence we erred on the side of a dry presentation of the facts. There has been no more effective or committed champion of this cause than the former Prince of Wales and I am sure this book and his words will help to keep things moving in the right direction.” I wonder, would Prince Charles be able to put his name to such a book at some future time when he might be our king? Or would the subject be regarded as too political? This was a very worthwhile project and the first author’s celebrity status will get the messages to a wider audience than would otherwise be the case. The Ladybird Expert Book on Climate Change will be available from 26 January 2017, alongside volumes about quantum mechanics and evolution.