The Most Important Comic Book on Earth
Illustrated by Abby Howard, Abdul Kareem Baba Aminu, Abhijeet Kini, David Mack, Tula Lotay
“This comic book is brave. It is like no other. It asks YOU, the reader, to don the tights, the capes, and go out and become the superheroes who will change our ecological crisis for the better.”
The Most Important Comic Book on Earth is an anthology containing 148 comic and informational pieces advocating for planetary change. Ranging from one to a few pages each, the comics are grouped into 4 chapters: “Change the System” (100 pages), “Protect the World” (110 pages), “Restore the Damage” (60 pages) and “Inspire and Educate” (74 pages). The content is created by about 300 authors and activists, which explains the different visual styles and the variety of stories, from biographies, climate activism reports, and reflections on nature, to jokes, heart-wrenching conversations with animals, speculative fiction, and more. The collection was published by Rewriting Extinction, a global collective led by Paul Goodenough, with the support from 7 environmental organizations: Greenpeace, World Land Trusts, The Wildlife Trusts, Born Free, Rewilding Europe, Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, and Re:Wild.
The collection offers a number of entry points to explore consumerism, human expansionism, and other systemic drivers of the current ecocide (chapter One); biodiversity loss and the destruction of habitats that results from extractivism and the capitalist market economy (chapter Two); rewilding, regenerative agriculture, Rights of Nature and other restorative, ecocentric projects (chapter Three); and the need for climate literacy and climate education in and with stories to help us imagine a transition to an ecological civilization (chapter Four). Because the stories are short, they’ll likely work best in conversation with other sources, including other stories in the collection. Each comic brings a different perspective, yet their themes overlap, which means that a number of stories across chapters can be used to discuss such issues as climate justice, wildlife conservation, habitats protection, youth climate activism and others. A number of stories are dark; others point at problems but also suggest solutions, such as building community gardens, rewilding your yard, changing your diet, and others. One strand running through the collection is a conviction that change is possible. It seeks to motivate readers to stand up for the planet and create an ecocentric future. The content can be used to develop environmental awareness, facilitate discussions on the climate crisis, and foster visual, verbal, and climate literacy.
©2022 ClimateLit (Elizabeth Solomon, with later edits by Alexandra Delacruz and Marek Oziewicz)
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9780744042825
Audience: Ages 14+
Format: Comics and Graphic Novels
Topics: Biodiversity Loss, Capitalism, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conservation, Consumerism, Ecocentrism, Ecocide, Environmental Injustice, Extractivism, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Habitat Loss, Habitats, Human Expansionism, Marine Conservation, Marine Pollution, Oceans, Rewilding, Wildlife
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