This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. When the first edition of the Ladybird Expert book on Climate Change was published in 2017, CO2 levels in the atmosphere were 405 parts per million (ppm), now they are 420 ppm. As a consequence, the impacts of climate change are becoming worse and we saw temperatures reach an incredible 40C in the UK last summer. 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. I feel a strong sense of responsibility as a climate scientist to communicate widely the findings of my research. 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.

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

Learn about one of the most important issues facing our world today in this clear, simple and enlightening introduction. Focusing on tangible consequences of climate impacts (such as health risks from extreme weather), or concrete benefits of climate policies (health gains from preventative measures to keep climate risks at bay) is likely to generate more engagement from people who don’t live and breathe climate change in the way that scientists or campaigners do.

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. One book won’t catapult climate change out of the green margins and into the middle-England mainstream. But with 6500 copies sold (and counting), this is a book on climate change that might just reach the elusive ‘unusual suspects’.

Prince Charles : A Ladybird Book - AbeBooks HRH Prince Charles : A Ladybird Book - AbeBooks

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. I recently interviewed Greenland residents, for whom adapting to climate changes is part of everyday life. We don’t really consider ourselves to be living climate-changed lives in Britain, but my childhood 30 years ago was enlivened by two winter blizzards that each shut down my village for a week. That snowmaggedon was great for community spirit. So who were the target audience for the Ladybird book? Judging by the media coverage, the royalist/centre-right press took a significant interest. From the Telegraph to Mail on Sunday, there was sensible coverage, including an article in The Sun that discussed the book in the context of recent flooding events in the UK. There were a few obligatory snide comments about the prince’s penchant for expressing his political opinions, but broadly speaking the press coverage was positive. So the authors clearly got the tone – and the visual narrative – about right in this respect.The other thing I’m an expert in is sex,’ Jones continues, ‘and I thought I’d like to write the Ladybird book of sex. It would be the least erotic book ever written. It would be about inbreeding and the differences between males and females – I touch on it a bit in the evolution book – but the publishers said no. It was a Ladybird book too far for them. 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," Juniper said. It is questionable whether illustrations are better than real photographs for conveying that authentic sense that ‘this is happening’. But the front cover depicted a scene that is recognisable to anyone who has lived in or passed through a British market-town. Images of climate change ‘happening’ to recognisable people and places is worth a hundred graphs or gifs.