A positive approach to an immense problem.
This concise volume offers a brief overview of the causes of climate change, the reasons to be worried, and the positive choices that make a difference.
Pointing out that Americans are uncertain about which actions might actually help the effort to slow climate change, Kallen has selected six areas of focus: diet, travel, low-waste lifestyles, energy use, greening the world, and activism. He provides background information, explains the issues, uses examples (often involving teens), and cites experts and statistics from varied sources. This volume is attractively presented, with plentiful, informatively captioned stock photographs that support the content. Text boxes focus on particular problems, such as air travel, plastics, smartphones, and urban heat islands. The author’s suggestions will be reasonable and realistic for many to implement. For example, he encourages readers who may not be ready or able to follow fully plant-based eating to instead embrace reduced-meat diets, and he explains the health and environmental benefits of this shift. His advice for aspiring activists stresses researching their chosen issue, crafting a cogent message, lobbying politicians in effective ways, and building a team. This smoothly written, thoughtfully focused presentation should be welcomed by teens who might feel overwhelmed by bad news about climate change and unable to imagine that their own individual choices could make a difference.
A positive approach to an immense problem. (picture credits, source notes, organizations and websites, for further research, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781678208028
Page Count: 64
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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