Changes

In the space of a week—the first week of spring—we woke to the beautiful results of a gentle snowstorm coating all trees and lawns. But by the end of that week our thermometers reached 82 degrees.

It’s very early in the year for Sophie to be too hot—but she is. She has begun refusing her afternoon walks, preferring to wait till closer to evening.

Changeable Climate—

How can we know so much about climate change, how can we know how fast it is approaching, and yet our every effort to adapt moves so slowly? We badly need our communities united behind reducing greenhouse gases.

As a writer of science fiction—

I took climate change into consideration when portraying future Dodge City, Kansas, which is the setting of Pawn Quest and its companion novel Ty’s Choice.

I had to make an educated guess to portray an imagined future on the other side of climate change: The recycling of everything. Energy-producing buildings maintaining integrated water systems. The division of lands between humans and wildlife to provide plants and animals the space and migratory corridors needed for adaptation and evolution.

Change is difficult, and the change we must embrace to combat global warming is going to be a one-way trip. I hope we can get it right. 

A conversation about change—

Writing novels is a way of carrying on a conversation. Though there are many nonfiction children’s books on the topic of the environment, I’m looking for fiction. If you know of any good children’s fiction dealing with the climate, please let me know by email or in the comments.

A good book—

Though not about climate change, a children’s fantasy I read recently caused me to sit up and take notice. I highly recommend The Ogress and the Orphans, by Newbery Award winning author Kelly Barnhill.

The villagers are so sure they know the truth that none will listen to the orphans. The situation is so much like our current information divide that I had to keep reading to find out how it was resolved.

I next read Kelly Barnhill’s award winner, The Girl Who Drank the Moon. I love how the author reaches deep into the hearts of all her characters.