It's Up to Us: Building a Brighter Future for Nature, People and Planet
Gunnella vi
CLARENCE HOUSE Children have a unique curiosity for Nature and for this amazing planet we call home This is because part of being young is knowing that we are in fact part of Nature ourselves When we view a picture of the Earth from space it is easy to see how the land water and air are one fragile system working in harmony to support life This system contains an incredibly beautiful diversity of animals trees plants flowers and insects all of which combine to provide the ingredients for life to flourish This web of life inspires me every day seeing that everything is in some way connected to everything else To keep this web of life within our planet healthy all the people in the world need to do everything they can to keep Nature healthy so that people and animals can be healthy too This means that we need all of the world's countries cities businesses and organizations to work together This is why I created the Terra Carta as a roadmap for Nature People and Planet and is why I need your help I hope that the story told in this book together with the marvellous illustrations by artists from around the globe will inspire you to discover and celebrate the natural world around you to explore the lessons Nature has to offer and the ways that you can act to protect it What the world needs is for children all around it to imagine the type of future you want to build I don't know about you but I love to draw and paint like many of the artists in this book So here's my challenge to you take out a blank piece of paper and draw paint or write about the future you would like to see one that puts Nature at the heart of everything we do That way we can share our ideas with as many people as possible and together we can help make our planet strong and healthy for generations to come vii
Fotini Tikkou viii
PART 1 NATURE We live our lives surrounded by people and other living things 1
