Best-selling author Tom Rivett-Carnac has released a new animation short (from a poem) and free download illustrated book entitled – What Happened When We All Stopped.
The book was written as a children’s book to share a positive message of hope as we emerge from the lockdown.
Narrated by the celebrated anthropologist and UN Messenger of Peace, Dr Jane Goodall who was so inspired by Tom’s poem that she agreed to provide the voiceover for the video inspired by the book, created by TED-Ed’s renowned animators.
A former Buddhist monk, Tom has spent the last 20 years working on climate change, at the intersection of international diplomacy, energy policy and private sector engagement. He is known as one of the architects of the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, signed by 195 countries in 2015, having served as the chief political strategist at the UN,
Having been asked many times for advice on how to talk to children about climate change, Tom decided to use the lockdown as an opportunity to write a story for parents and children about what comes next.Set to beautiful artwork created by Tom’s sister, Bee Rivett-Carnac, a noted illustrator with two decades’ experience, the poem conjures an inspiring vision of the renewed, nature-rich world that’s waiting for us as we emerge from isolation.
The project was put together by Global Optimism – founded by Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 2010-2016, and Tom Rivett-Carnac, who served as her Senior Political Advisor, on leaving the UN. They are credited as architects of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the first global treaty on climate change unanimously signed by 195 countries. They are co-presenters of the weekly podcast, Outrage and Optimism, and co-authors of the Sunday Times bestseller, The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.
