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Gaia Warriors is designed for younger readers, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t enjoy and learn from it. It begins with a detailed but easily understandable explanation of one of the most confusing terms being tossed around these days – climate change.
How many times have you wondered (or heard someone else ask), ‘If global warming is real, why are we having such cold winters?’ Or ‘If scientists can’t even predict what the weather will be like next week, how can they possibly know that the earth’s temperature is rising?’
Nicola Davies points out in the first section of this well-designed book that there is a difference between climate and weather. “Day to day weather may be very unpredictable… but over years and decades the ups and downs in temperature, wind, and rain can be seen to be part of a stable and predictable pattern; that pattern is what we call climate.”
So when people use the term ‘global warming,’ they might more accurately say ‘climate change’ in order to refer to a consistent and predictable alteration in worldwide weather conditions.
Using historical background, Davies draws a sharp picture of what is happening, why it’s happening, and how we know it’s happening. For those who aren’t convinced, Gaia Warriors includes a chapter that addresses the possibility of error - in other words, what if the scientists are wrong and we’ve really got nothing to worry about?
For the rest of us, Gaia Warriors fills a second section with a host of things we can do to minimize the damage to Planet Earth. Education is up first, and Davies gives us tons of tips about making everyone aware of the problem and solutions. Recognizing that a single book can contain only so much information, Davies includes links to websites and lists of books and other material so that the interested reader can dig deeper. A few of the topics she discusses are alternative forms of energy, transportation, and building; planet-friendly fashion and food; and earth-saving possibilities in every area from the arts to vacationing.
Section three includes a glossary, more outside resources, and an afterword from James Lovelock, one of the most influential people in the environmental movement.
The style of this book makes it a perfect course text for middle and high school science classes, and the projects within its pages are ideal for any youth group from Scouts to FFA. Gaia Warriors doesn’t follow the standard book format. The layout is snappy and attractive, with sidebars and tidbits sprinkled throughout, in tune with today’s fast-paced 140-character attention span. Because every single page is crammed with facts and ideas for action, you can read it straight through or sample at random – it’s all good.
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Gaia Warriors: The Fight is On!