About the Holiday
Sponsored by the United Nations, World Environment Day encourages worldwide awareness and action for the protection of the environment. Each year a different country hosts the day’s events. This year Pakistan has been chosen as the host country. Today’s holiday also launches the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs from 2021 to 2030 and “aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.” This work is crucial to the survival of our planet. The statistics are alarming. Studies have found that every three seconds the world loses enough forest to cover a soccer field and over the last century, half of our wetlands and as much as fifty per cent of our coral reefs have been destroyed. This year’s theme is “Reimagine. Recreate. Restore.” Everyone is needed to make a difference. You can learn more about World Environment Day, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and how you can join the #GenerationRestoration movement on the UN World Environment Day website.
This Little Environmentalist: A Love-the-Earth Primer
Written by Joan Holub | Illustrated by Daniel Roode
Take any little one outside and they’re immediately fascinated with plants, animals, and bugs they see. They want to play in the water at the beach or lake. And who doesn’t like to take a boat ride on a river? When they look up, there are fluffy clouds and birds passing by, and, of course, the tall trees provide shade for outdoor play. Kids instinctively want to protect nature and seem to be born with compassion for animals – their pets and those that live in the wild.
Image copyright Daniel Roode, 2021, text copyright Joan Holub, 2021. Courtesy of Little Simon.
This Little Environmentalist: A Love-the-Earth Primer recognizes young children’s desire to help and learn more about nature with mini-biographies of ten people who have found distinct ways to preserve the environment today and for future generations. Each biography is introduced with a rhyming verse that makes it easy for little readers to understand and remember how each of these activists made an impact. They then learn more specifics about each person’s work to protect open land, inspire new environmental laws, save forests, support clean water, and fight against climate change.
Image copyright Daniel Roode, 2021, text copyright Joan Holub, 2021. Courtesy of Little Simon.
Children learn about Edgar J. Helm, who created the Goodwill company that provided jobs and decreased trash; Wangari Maathai, who “got African women to plant millions of trees in Kenya to provide fruit, shade from the sun, wood for building , and firewood for cooking”; Vandana Shiva, who encourages farmers and communities to create seed banks for the future; Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao who have devised a way to “break down hard-to-recycle plastic trash”; and six more influential environmentalists.
Following these ten biographies are one– or two-sentence profiles of seventeen other people, including writers, artists, politicians, scientists, and other visionaries who are involved in protecting our earth. The last frame is left blank for the next environmentalist on the scene – could it be you?
Image copyright Daniel Roode, 2021, text copyright Joan Holub, 2021. Courtesy of Little Simon.
With her straightforward and informative text, Joan Holub will inspire kids to follow in the footsteps of well-known personalities and community leaders and keep an eye out for ways they can make a difference at home, school, or in their neighborhood. Inclusion of environmentalists from around the world give readers knowledge about a wide range of environmental concerns and innovative ideas people have for addressing them.
Daniel Roode’s bright and engaging illustrations help kids visualize the place where each environmentalist lives and the type of work they do. Background details give kids and adults plenty to talk about as they read and as they take walks in the neighborhood, go to the park, visit the grocery story and farmers market, and notice more about their own area.
A smart, inclusive, and timely addition to the This Little series, This Little Environmentalist: A Love-the-Earth Primer is a must for fans of the series as well as for classroom and public library collections.
Ages 3 – 5
Little Simon, 2021 | ISBN 978-1534475588
World Environment Day Activity
Recycling Maze
This little boy wants to help the environment! Can you help him pick up recyclable items in this printable maze?
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