Book Review: Climate Crisis for Beginners (Usborne Books)

This is a comprehensive and clear guide to Climate Change that is ideally suited to upper key stage 2 pupils.

It is part of a series of Usborne ‘For Beginners’ books (Politics, Business, Money and Law have previously been tackled) and takes the same approach as these, of presenting demanding content through clear graphics and simple explanations.

Helpfully, the book immediately addresses controversies about climate change. It introduces a family of characters who represent a range of responses to climate change. Dani believes climate change to be the most important issue in the world; Dad doesn’t think there is anything to worry about. These characters allow the authors to be unequivocal in their assertions of the reality and importance of the issue — “we agree (more or less) with Dani”, they say — whilst also sensitively addressing the sorts of views that children may well meet around them.

This is just one example of what the authors do consistently: controversies and debates are dealt with thoughtfully. There’s an excellent and detailed treatment of the IPCC and of questions of certainty. This is an even-handed book.

The book is about 120 pages long and covers a vast range of material. Climate/weather, Greenhouse gases, Fossil fuels, Tipping points, Climate justice, Responsibilities; Certainty; the IPCC; Impacts of temperature rise; Principles for choices; Options; Subsidies; Low-Carbon Energy; Carbon Capture; Agriculture; Waste; Transport; Economic Growth; Cooperation; Psychology of change; Consequences; Opinions; Values; Corporations are all addressed.

The final chapter ‘What can I do?’ focuses on individual influence and choice and brilliantly, for its audience, asks readers to first consider their circumstances — including their age, location and how much power they have. This seems a wise and sensible response, avoiding the twin dangers of either overburdening children or of diminishing their agency.

Some time ago, the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, organised for all primary schools to receive a copy of the King James Bible. Before that, a previous government had sent each school a copy of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Schools Toolkit. (Education Policy based on Desert Island discs — it seems). It would be a good thing indeed, if we had a government with the vision to equip every primary school in the country with a copy of Climate Crisis for Beginners — it really does merit the attention of all teachers and pupils.