Peter Grenville worked behind a desk for 30 years, but gave it all up to concentrate on his writing. His debut children’s book, The Big Plug, contains a strong environmental message that will teach young readers to value and protect their environment.
The Big Plug
Sun worshippers!!
In my new book The Big Plug the world is threatened with going out with a bang because of the disregard for the planet the two-legs (humans) have by burning too much oil `and stuff`. Yet there is an alternative, and it gets up every morning to warm and light the good earth. Yes, it’s the sun! What a shock! In just one second it gives off enough power to look after all our energy needs for 500 years! How’s that for a no-brainer? Of course it means radical changes to the way we generate energy worldwide, far easier said than done and very painful-but the alternative is even more so.
Recycle and re-use it!
Now let’s not get confused with recycling – getting stuff like a tin can or an oil rig melted down to come back as a car or a razor blade – and re-use, which sees a jam jar re-purposed as a pencil holder, or an empty ship’s container become a home for someone. So, before you chuck it out think if you can give it another life. Old school? Yes, but so good for the environment.
Not just charity shops!
Of course another obvious way to re-use your surplus things is by donating them to a charity shop, which do brilliant work across the land. However, there are many other charitable bodies who would often be highly grateful for your donations. I’m thinking here about asylum seeker and refugee groups, `drop-ins` for people with mental health problems, women’s refuges, breakfast clubs for homeless people-and so on. All contributions gratefully received! You’ll be on your way to heaven for your kindness!
Repair it!
Yes, it can be done! Help save the planet even more by gluing that broken picture frame, patching those holey pants or repairing that puncture, instead of buying new. It’s too easy to throw broken stuff away. Just think of the sense of pride and achievement you’ll feel in making and mending something. (You could of course smash it into a thousand bits when it goes horribly wrong).
Good old compost!
In The Big Plug, a children’s fantasy story about how plants and spiders try to save the world from global warming, the plants are scared stiff of going in the Dark Bin. They know it’s time to meet their maker. The Bin Reaper calls on a regular basis, a large noisy monster on wheels, which swallows up everything in the Dark Bin – and he does this at every house, spewing out his load at what the two-legs call the council dump. Of course the plants, clever as they are, don’t know their deceased brothers and sisters are being turned into highly useful compost. Just spare a thought though when you consign that dying plant to the Bin-after all the good service he/she has given you!