Hi everyone, I'm Loll Kirby. And thank you so much for inviting me along to your ECO
Bookworms club. I'm really excited to be here and talk to you about my book, which is Old
Enough to Save the Planet, written by me, illustrated by Adelina Lirius and published
by Magic Cat Publishing. Now, you might notice that my hair looks a little bit different
from the regular videos I made. I haven't straightened it today. So but it is still
me. And in this video, I'm going to talk to you a little bit about what inspired me to
write the books, I'm not going to read any pages, I'm just going to talk about sort of
a little bit of the behind the scenes stuff. And I would say that one of my main inspirations
for the book was Greta Thunberg. And seeing all the amazing work that she was doing with
her school strike against climate and speaking to some of you know, the really important
world leaders about what their countries could be doing.
And, you know, that got me thinking that there probably will be lots of other people around
the world, young people doing really great stuff. And actually, it tied in with something
I've long believed because I, I was a teacher before I became a writer. And I've got three
children myself, and I'll tell you a secret, I think children have the best ideas. So I
thought if one, if one young person Greta is doing this, I bet there are loads of other
young people doing really cool stuff.
So I went away and chatted to the publisher. And you know, we chatted about it previously,
as well. And they felt the same and found so many young people actually that I probably
could have filled another four or five books.
And I had to narrow it down, which was really, really tough, I had to try and kind of find
different projects that would tell stories from all around the world, because actually,
although we all live on one big planet, and we all need to work together to protect that
planet.
You know, our little our little individual spots, and places and homes on the planet
can be quite different from each other. So I'm talking to you from the UK, and from a
place a county called Warwickshire, that's sort of in the middle of the UK.
So my experience compared to say Adeline's, in the mangrove swamps would be quite different.
And the action that I need to take to look after the environment that's around me would
be quite different from hers, or from you know, perhaps Eunita who's living in Kenya,
and things like that. So I wanted to make sure that there are lots of different people
represented because all sorts of young people around the world are doing amazing work. And
that also there were lots of different projects represented.
And actually, I got to thinking while I was researching these young people, well, what
did I do when I was younger.
And there wasn't, it kind of wasn't as much talk about, you know, needing to address climate
change when I was sort of a similar age when I was a teenager, or younger. But I do remember
a book that I had that talked about even then ways that you can look after the planet. And
I remember the thing that blew my mind, which is something we all kind of think about now
and take for granted was switched to tap off when you brush the brush your teeth.
And also to recycle because actually, when I was little there weren't recycling facilities
around, there was a rubbish dump where you could take old things that you didn't need
anymore. And sometimes the metal from that would get recycled. And occasionally the glass
but not really anything else. Whereas now there are much more advanced ways of recycling,
and also a focus on reusing things so that you know, we things get lots and lots of uses
before we even take them to the recycling, and also on trying to consume less in the
first place. So yeah, I would say that I was thinking about this even as a young child
mind, but I wouldn't by switching your tapped off when you brushed your teeth. And it's
such a simple one. But I really, really remember reading this book and thinking, wow, I can
make a really big difference. And I think that's one of the things I wanted to achieve
with this book as well was to show readers that actually we don't you know, it's incredible
for people who have done things like Greta's done, and I kind of world famous now or have
set up charities or foundations or great community efforts. But actually, we can all do so much
so many little things easily ourselves every day just like me go, Wow, I could turn the
tap off while I brush my teeth. That would make a really big difference. And even though
that's something that we know now there are, you know, different things that we can try.
But that's why I would say almost my favorite section of well, is not because I loved telling
the stories of all the young people that was a real honor.
But one of the sections that I love at the back of the book as well as how can you save
the planet? How can you make your voice heard because actually, I think
We need to hear more of your voices and more of your ideas because they're so incredible.
And you know, young people often don't get bogged down with all that. How much will it
cost? Or how will it work that grownups do.
And they come up with these crazy things and creative things that in the end, we think
you know what that could work. So if you do get a chance to read the book, I would love
to know what you think of it, you can pop onto my website, which is gatherandgrow.co.uk
and send me a message if you want to tell me about any of the ideas that you come up
with. But I hope you enjoy reading the book. And I hope you enjoy all of the other eco
books that you read as well. Thanks for having me. Bye bye.