AJH Blog
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: using humour to address complex issues
As the story unfolds in my educational comic book, The Adventures of Polo the Bear, Polo’s character evolves. Starting out as just another hungry bear, he gradually takes on the role of a celebrity and an activist for climate action. Using humour, often through nameless supporting characters, I get to address technical or complex subjects…
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: Earth Day 2020 and Climate Action
Earth Day 2020 is being widely and rightly celebrated around the world as I type. This is good, this is great! But its not nearly enough. One could argue that ‘Earth Day‘ is redundant, for the simple reason that every day should be Earth Day. In the same way that every day should be Mother’s Day or Children’s Day. If what we…
A conversation with Clare Shakya
I was lucky to have a chat with Clare Shakya for an interview as part of my research for my next comic book, the sequel to The Adventures of Polo the Bear: a Story of Climate Change. Clare is the director of the Climate Change research group at the International Institute of Environment and Development…
Fables of the Amazon book excerpt: Why poo-loving dung beetles are important
Dung beetles just love the stuff, they do. And its actually quite important, even for you and me! The mysterious reason why is explored in my very first comic book, co authored with Louise Emmons: Fables of the Amazon: Fun Lessons in Ecology. This funny comic book is one of several homeschooling resources for parents…
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: the vast ocean
Humanity is in unprecedented global lockdown and kids are bored at home. What a great time to awaken their curiosity about the natural world! This excerpt from The Adventures of Polo the Bear, a fun educational resource for kids, is all about the ocean and its wild inhabitants. Because of global lockdown, the world suddenly…
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: Doom and gloom is not cool
Whether its for COVID19 or the underlying climate crisis, naysaying, denial and despair are not the way to go. Coronavirus will pass, climate change will not. Some of the effects of global warming we will have to learn to live with. By rallying to the cause, by embracing the challenge and switching small things we…
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: Coronavirus is temporary, climate change is not
It is vital that society at large does not forget the real emergency humanity is facing. COVID19 is but one more symptom of an already collapsing world. The solutions to arrest global warming and mass extinction DO EXIST, and I for one am very optimistic. But for them to work, everyone needs to get engaged,…
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: the floating vegetable gardens of Bangladesh
We are living a period of critical, immediate crisis superimposed on a far longer period of escalating, gradual crisis. Coronavirus is paralyzing human activities across a world that is already critically ill from human-induced climate change. I believe humanity is threatening its very survival; this may be the ultimate test, the final battle. Of course…
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: Polo in the land of contrasts
Polo learns about climate change in India – at the same time a powerhouse of both fossil fuels and renewable sources of clean energy.
Behind the scenes with Captain Polo: the Chinese fishing vessel
This next Author Insight on The Adventures of Polo the Bear is all about the illegal and unregulated fishing that goes on in the Pacific Ocean, and many other parts of the world. The sequence I included in my book targets the Chinese tuna long liners, considered particularly damaging partly because they allegedly fish indiscriminately,…
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