Books help educate children and their parents about the environmental issue

American writer Jonathan Safran Foer, who devoted his life to non-fiction environmental issuesHe says in his latest book, We are the climate (Rocco, read Estadão interview), that we would be ashamed of our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren for the way we choose to live. This does not mean that the environment is not among our interests. It exists, and with each generation there are developments. But this is an abstract problem, he says, and while we are bombarded with troubling scientific information, it doesn’t actually lead to habit change. But perhaps this does not apply to the new generation.

Writer and painter Fernando Villella optimistic. “Today’s children can change the world and reinvent the future. This generation was born with a different head of sustainability and has a huge commitment,” he says — and says that today they learn more with their children than the other way around. They’re in their 20s, and they don’t eat meat for the same reason Safran Foer highlights in his book (he says that if cows were a country, they would be second only to China and the United States in greenhouse gas emissions).

Fernando Villella kicks off with writer and architect Michael Gorsky a book behind the rain (FTD). It’s a story of the reunion of two friends, a journalist and a scientist, in 2035, in a green and sustainable São Paulo, very different from 2010, when torrential rains drenched everything again. That year, the two friends and two other friends from school decided to meet during the holidays to think of solutions for the city. Rain, which is a good thing, shouldn’t cause much destruction. Together, listening to the stories of one of their grandmothers, they designed an aquarium building, a pool car, sidewalks and roofs of a garden and so on.

“What we are trying to show is the issue of small scale. It is on a small scale, in personal locations, in terms of understanding that you can do something, that it will have value, that things start to change,” comments Gorsky, who came up with the idea for the book. Villella adds: “That small size today could become massive the next. Just look at the K-pop fans, who managed to empty Donald Trump’s rally, which was supposed to have 180,000 people. Just think he was a kid.” who created Facebook at the university and who in 10 years became a billionaire with a network that enhances communication between people, but works only in the service of entertainment and romantic relationships, with no interest in politics whatsoever. It can be interesting, because I believe in this innovative and real potential of small scale.”

Children’s literature is concerned with the environment. Such as behind the rainOther books are being released – and not just now, because Environment Day. These are readings with potential for schooling, but also help to start a conversation with the kids at home (or, eventually, teach something to parents as well).

Talk is underway Plastic: your past, present and future, by South Korean Eun Joo Kim, who studied physics and early childhood education, with illustrations by Ji Won Lee. The book, for elementary school children, warns (we use at least 300 million tons of plastic annually) and presents the product’s life cycle. Another version from the publisher, for students who are slightly older, from Elementary School 2, is Water: We need to talk about thisWritten by Sergio Tulio Caldas.

And also about water – dam-building, destruction, friendship and respect – wellWritten by Aleandro Rocha with illustrations by Paolo Tomei, it was released by Callis in March and is suitable for young children.

For those who follow the work of Lalau and Laurabeatriz, the duo is launching, through Companhia das Letrinhas, Brazilians from the PantanalWith poems dedicated to animals there.

The publisher has two other beautiful releases on the subject. for young readers, Woods, an illustrated book by Amazonian painter Irina Freitas, shows a girl facing the news of the fires in the Amazon and her journey, from there, to transform her home into a more pleasant place. “Her path is the path we all take, at some point in our lives, when we start to look at the environment and think about the small changes we can make to improve the place,” says the 29-year-old artist. About deforestation and its effects, it’s also worth reading Slash and Flame / Flame and Slash, with two narrative poems by Leo Cunha illustrated by Paulo Rea, released by Polo do Gato last year. “Cattle demand more pasture/crop, more space/man, power,” says the author at one point.

The other version of Companhia das Letrinhas is My backyardFernando Nuno with illustrations by Bruno Nunes. The author introduces readers to all living and imaginary creatures that live in our backyard, until someone starts messing with them and everything collapses. There is hope, in the end – when the narrator discovers that, like him, there are more people interested in nature and that together it will be possible to do something. “Today’s children of previous generations will receive a scientist in very difficult conditions. They will become adults and have a lot of work to improve the planet, but most of them already acquire, as they grow, an awareness of the situation and what there is a need to know what some people have already done in this sense and to create new ideas and technologies”, As Nono says.

The main thing, he adds, is to get acquainted with the world of nature, to communicate with it in every way, from hugging a tree to planting a seed – as well as reading. wrote in the name of My backyard You have this function, to help with this awareness. Working to save what is already lost, what has already been burned, and what is on the way to extinction, will be arduous. Individual initiatives are very important. Moreover, many types of work are being developed collectively around the world. It is the combination of these efforts, individual and collective, that will make the difference so that future generations will have a healthy planet where they can live in luxury, and where they are happy to be and play.”

beyond the rain

Authors: Michele Gorsky and Fernando Villella

Editor: FTD

(48 pages, 49 BRL)

background of my house

Author: Fernando Nuno

Illustration: Bruno Nunes

Publisher: Companhia das Letrinhas (40 pages, R$49.90)

Woods

Author: Irina Freitas

Publisher: Companhia das Letrinhas (32 pages, R$44.90)