Inspire Cornwall's Children About Climate Change

Together we can inspire our children to tackle climate change with these proven, fun, beautiful, engaging teaching resources for every school  

As the reality of lockdown becomes more apparent, and the thought of Christmas adds to our pressure, it can be hard to prioritise the pressures our environment is facing due to climate change. As we are urged to shop local and support our Cornish businesses we are already helping to reduce our impact on the environment. But there is another small way in which you can help - one that will inspire over 40,000 Cornish children to get involved and help tackle the climate change issue.

Climate change is a serious problem affecting every part of our planet, but with your help, we can inspire future generations to reverse the damage that is destroying our world. The real key to solving the issue is to teach children from a young age about the problem - and this is where a little bit of help from you can make a direct difference in your community.

Enter The Wild Tribe Heroes!

The Wild Tribe Heroes are written and illustrated by Cornish based author and illustrator team Ellie Jackson and Laura Callwood and are a series of children’s books designed to teach primary school children about global environmental issues – and what they can do to fix them! 

We want all 270 primary schools in Cornwall to each receive a copy of the fifth book in the bestselling Wild Tribe Heroes series, Hunter’s Icy Adventure, a true story about climate change. The books are printed and ready to go and can be with the schools within a few weeks - the power to make this a reality is in your hands.

Reaching over a million children and receiving personal support from Sir David Attenborough and Prince Charles, this number one bestselling series covers issues such as ocean plastic, balloon releases, ghost fishing nets, palm oil and climate change. Through a successful crowdfunder in 2018, the first three books on ocean plastic were generously donated by the Cornish community into all 270 Cornish schools, reaching over 40,000 children with their important messages. 

Over the last two years, the impact of the books on school children has been evident right across the Duchy as more and more children are passionately involved in helping stop single use plastic - from seeing children get involved in beach cleans and litter picks, becoming Plastic Free Schools and Communities, writing letters to businesses, helping stop single use plastics such as plastic straws, instigating changes to Red Noses, setting up recycling schemes, campaigning for change in their communities and inspiring their families to get involved.

With Cornwall Council declaring a climate emergency, this crowdfunder directly supports the Council’s objectives to educate and support children. By using a gentle true story and engaging illustrations in a familiar picture book style with a happy ending,  Hunter’s Icy Adventure guides young children through the issue of climate change and helps them to put it into context, giving them a reason as to why changes need to be made. The book and supporting teaching resources are a way for you and your community to get behind your children, helping them to create cleaner schools, towns, coasts and healthy environments for humans and animals.

If we meet our target, we’ll send each school in Cornwall an educational pack that includes the new climate change book, teaching ideas and access to high quality digital resources. The books can be used as a stand alone lesson or a series of lessons and assembly discussion – even as a whole school approach. The teaching resources have been written by Cornish teacher, outdoor learning advocate and author Debbie Lambert and incorporate learning from every area of the National Curriculum, and can easily be adapted by teachers for all ages. 

The books are supported by several Cornish based environmental charities, including Surfers Against Sewage, 2 Minute Beach Clean, The Eden Project and Fathom's Free and together with your help, we can spread the word to support these charities further, starting with this campaign to reach all the primary schools in Cornwall.

Who am I?

My name is Ellie Jackson. I grew up spending my holidays immersed in nature, and my childhood was a free range existence – exploring beaches, caves and cliffs. My parents really instilled in me a love of the outdoors, and that love has stayed with me ever since; I went on to study Environmental Science at Birmingham University, before teaching secondary school Geography, moving to Australia and starting a family and writing my first book about a turtle who eats too much plastic. Now living in Cornwall and three years and five books later, I spend my days together with my children, campaigning for plastic free communities whilst working hard creating books that can help inspire children to care for our environment.

As a mother and teacher myself, it is vital to me to teach children these message in a gentle way, whilst still explaining the reality of the issues. As adults we find it distressing and overwhelming to see shocking images of rivers of plastic, animals in distress and depressing facts. There is no need for a child of primary school age to see images of their favourite animals in so much pain and yet if we leave this until they are teenagers, the habits they have learned will be much harder to change.

By teaching children from aged 3 and upwards using these books, they can see the issue come to life through a familiar picture book format with a happy ending and ideas for the future. This puts a positive approach to the problem and empowers them to feel like they can make a difference. And it doesn’t stop there; more books are on their way about many different environmental issues in the hope that they’ll continue to inspire children across the UK – and the world, as the books are already translated into 15 different languages!

With A Small Bit of Help You Can Make A Whole Lot Of Change

With your help, we can spread the climate change message, reaching thousands of children across our community. We want every primary school in Cornwall to have these books and from experience we have seen huge success and change when a whole area is targeted at once. This way, thousands of children, their parents and families will learn about the issue at the same time creating a powerful momentum for change. And the money you pledge will help us get these books and resources into our schools. With 270 primary schools in Cornwall that is over 40,000 children reached in one go - all taking action to tackle the problem and real world results are already being seen in changing attitudes, cleaner environment, waste reduction and increased awareness.

Ultimately, if we can inspire our children to take action at home and in school and to tackle wider issues in their communities we still stand a chance in reversing this globally devastating issue. 

Thank you!