Environment and Climate
Two picture books that explain climate change organ by organ
Sruthi Kotamraju founded BodyandPlanet in 2023 to make climate and health education accessible to children, and has reached more than 1,000 young people with a picture book series about what a warming planet does to the body.
Images of the Canada wildfires flashed across the TV screen, but Sruthi's younger cousin's attention was on a mobile game. "Why are we watching this?" the cousin asked. "Nobody cares!" Sruthi paused the TV and explained the basics of climate change. Eventually, the cousin asked a question back: "Why is climate change bad?"
Similar conversations with other kids made Sruthi curious about why they knew so little. "Upon doing some research, I found that only about half of youth can accurately define climate change even though the majority go to school," they say. This gap in accessible education deepened their commitment to addressing the issue.
“If I can ignite curiosity in even one child, then I have done something worthwhile.”
Sruthi Kotamraju
BodyandPlanet, the nonprofit Sruthi founded in 2023, is built around "Zara's Bodyville Adventures," a children's picture book series in which the main character travels to different parts of the body and learns more about them. Sruthi drew the characters and the world and wrote dialogue for readers as young as five. The books explain how climate change harms specific organs. Two are published, Brain Boulevard and Lung Lane.
Before publishing, Sruthi led five beta-reading sessions with kids of different ages, genders, and backgrounds. "They understood every page perfectly and asked many follow-up questions, which was the exact response I was looking for!" they say.
Getting into classrooms was harder. Sruthi, a student at Prosper High School, says requests for read-alouds were declined "time and time again" but never gave up. A BodyandPlanet school chapter now has more than 20 members who brainstorm book ideas, take part in local book drives and write blogs for the website. The organisation has hosted more than 20 community events, and it holds the Ashoka Youth Venture certification and the Advanced Certificate on Social Impact for Global Citizenship from AFS and UPenn.
More than 50 free copies have gone to children across North Texas. Since then, Sruthi says, a further 1,000 young people have been educated and the work has reached at least 14 countries.
The larger goal is getting the series to children in developing countries. "Translation and international distribution require resources I don't yet have access to," they say. "My ultimate goal is to have the book completely free and accessible to all youth."
Sruthi credits a team of volunteers, club sponsor Mr. Tanner, and SCORE mentor Stuart Hamill for supporting the work. Sruthi is currently writing a third book, about the skin, continuing the mission to make climate and health education accessible to every child.