When You Give The World A Garden

"When You Give The World A Garden"
A Children's Book

Written by Emily Herbut & Jake Rider

Illustrated by Dakota Rider

 

    

    The topic of climate change is nothing new, people around the world are discussing it; it’s being taught in schools, and now it is finally getting the attention it deserves. However, climate change still lacks the adequate amount of attention that it needs to evoke change. This conversation is just starting and we are here to continue it.

    Emily and I (Jake) wanted to focus our project on the next generation that is to come to take on the fight

against climate change. Children are often overlooked when it comes to discussing plans for climate

change responses. Society sees climate change as an adult issue; something only big-brained,

blue-collared adults can figure out. But that is not true. Not even close to being true.

    Climate change calls for intersectional action and requires a collective effort to fight on a global level.

Children are the next generation to take on this planet. They are the ones that we need to figure this out for.

It is our responsibility to make sure the next generation has a planet to live on, and that responsibility

includes involving children in the fight. Therefore, Emily and I made it a goal to write a children’s book on

the importance of gardening and how they can make a difference themselves to combat the effects of

climate change. We wanted to provide a source of inspiration and youth empowerment for children to

picture themselves in.

    Personally, I had the desire to make this book inclusive and inviting to all in hopes to end the stereotype

that only white, straight, and rich men hold the answers to solving climate change. This narrative holds true

to most things in life and it is time to deconstruct that because the answers lie in diversity. Therefore, the main character of our book, Lucas, comes from an inner-city, poor Hispanic community.

In the book, Lucas has two gay fathers and they all work together to start a garden in their community for

everyone to use. Lucas learns about the practice of gardening and the concept of climate change while at

school one day and finds the passion within himself to make a difference. Living in a food desert, Lucas is

aware of the challenges associated with fast food and hopes to make his community not only healthier but

also make food more accessible and sustainable through the implementation of a community garden. 

The way we chose to communicate this story was heavily inspired by the material discussed in our

Climate Change Communication course. For instance, we intentionally drew from an idea posed by the

author Per Espen Stoknes in his book, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming. He discusses aligning the three ABCs of attitude-- affective, behavioral, and cognitive--to develop a strong, consistent attitude of awareness and urgency toward climate change and its effects. By providing the audience with illustrations and a storyline following a young boy and his pursuit in creating a garden, we aimed to evoke feelings of inspiration and plausible action among our audience. We want to help children visualize their connection with the environment by exploring the benefits of creating a community garden. The behavioral change we hope to see is that children will feel inspired to create gardens of their own in their own communities.

In addition, our emphasis on localizing food production was heavily influenced by a quote mentioned

Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kumps’ book, Dire Predictions Understanding Climate Change.

They wrote that “Climate change has the potential to seriously undermine the world’s food supplies. Sadly,

many of the regions most likely to be affected already find it difficult to meet existing food demands”.With our book, we hope to foster a sense of self-reliance for communities in terms of supplying food. This

relationship of access to food and self-sufficiency poses the potential long-term benefit of providing education

to children in communities to hold this relationship upon themselves and their community as a whole, which

can counteract the systemic problem of food deserts associated with climate change.

    This book is also an example of presenting viable solutions to climate change positively and simply.

Among the five new strategies to communicate climate change mentioned by author Per Espen Stoknes.

In his book, he discusses the need to present climate change solutions as simple, story-based, and supportive. By focusing on the benefits of producing a community garden, rather than concentrating on the costs associated with climate change, we hope to evoke a sense of optimism among our audience; this employs a supportive framework paired with positive emotions. In addition, we wanted to make climate-friendly behaviors appear easy and convenient. By using a story-based method of communication to create meaning and community, we deliberately built a narrative that the audience could envision themselves in; thus, enabling them to create a mindset to take action themselves.

Finally, we chose to use a well-being narrative to encompass this story that painted a picture of a better future for younger generations to strive for. This story places human quality of life above everything else by emphasizing good health, social justice, racial equity, and education. We hope that our readers can imagine the society we construct in our story and use it as a destination to strive toward in the future.

Recording of story reading: