Colette Bar – Author of the Eco-Heroes series and founder of Save Our World
From working in the oil and gas industry to author of the successful Eco-Heroes series of environmental children’s books, author Colette Bar believes we all have an obligation and social responsibility to educate about what is really happening in our world and starting with kids is the best way.
From working in the oil and gas industry to author of eco books for kids, that’s quite a career leap, what prompted you to make this jump?
I realised I was no longer in my job for the right reasons and this didn’t sit well with my conscience. I wanted to look at where I could personally add value to the bigger picture protecting the environment from the climate crisis and being more connected to nature and what I love. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next, but I did know that I wanted to live more in sync with my own personal values and to be a good example to my kids. Being more sustainability focused was key, but I also wanted to do something creative, fun, engaging and inspiring with meaning and impact. That’s how The Eco-heroes came to be.
I want the UAE to continue to be an amazing place and for children to be fully aware of how they can have a huge impact on that. Having local characters and stories based here seemed like a great way of raising environmental awareness for children, whilst reading, touching and feeling real physical books is a really valuable way to learn. Creating books seemed like a fun and obvious adventure.
When I told Leona Collins, my next-door neighbour and now Creative Director, about the project she loved it and wanted to be involved straight away.
I’ve never thought about a drilling rig since!
What were the initial challenges as there is not really much out there in terms of kid’s books with an environmental focus?
The fact there were no similar books in the UAE was a real motivation to be honest. I wanted the books to be relevant to children living here because there is less environmental awareness in the Middle East than in some other parts of the world, so it was critical that The Eco-heroes’ books are relatable and relevant. The books needed to be created, written, illustrated, edited, published, marketed and sold here to be as sustainable as possible and that brings several interesting challenges with it.
Not having ever written or published a book in my life before and Leona having never illustrated a book either, was a huge learning curve for us. There is so much involved in publishing and selling books that we only really appreciated what’s involved once we were up to our necks in it.
What was the initial response like, how challenging was it to find a publisher?
The response was really positive and supportive from friends, family, teachers and colleagues but I didn’t look hard or spend time trying to find a publisher. I approached one local company which suggested self-publishing. When I looked into it, it seemed a bit onerous and a lot of hard work. However, as anyone on a mission to save the world will tell you, that did not put me off! I approached Leona and we set up Save Our World as a registered company to self-publish our own books. The books are printed in the UAE on 100% recycled paper using vegetable inks and we sell them via our own website and through distributors. Being able to ‘walk the talk’ on sustainability has really added credibility to our messaging. We have been fortunate to be part of The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature for the last two years and we are also a resource for the UN’s Voices of Future Generations Middle East (VOFG) which is led by Sheikha Hissa, so we are definitely getting great encouragement. It’s been tremendous to have been so well supported which makes the hard work worth it.
You are now on your 4th book and the 5th will follow close behind I believe; can you talk me through the series so far and how you chose the subjects to write about?
Yes, absolutely. The Eco-heroes is an environmental children’s book series based in the UAE. It follows the adventures of five school children of different nationalities who each have different ‘eco-powers’ aligned with five different environmental topics. They are recycling, food waste, plastic pollution, water conservation and clean energy. The first three books in the series have already been published (The Eco-heroes Recycling Trip Trouble, The Eco-heroes Fight For Food, The Eco-heroes in The Plastic Planet) and the fourth book (The Eco-heroes Watch Water) is currently being illustrated by Leona to launch before the end of 2020.
I chose the subjects because they are really important global topics which I am not only passionate about and interested in, but I truly believe that children should know more about them. If they have awareness of what’s happening to their environment, then they can make more informed choices to help it.
Since I’ve come from an extractive industry, I understand the depth and complexities of the energy crisis which is important when considering the challenges future generations are facing. So, I’ve saved the fifth book on clean energy for last to complete the series. This will be launched before the end of 2020 (Inshallah).
The series cover a LOT of ground, but the challenge for me is to keep them funny, engaging and inspiring while getting the messaging across in an impactful way. That’s why having great illustrations is so important.
How do you hope the books will inspire children?
The stories in the books are to empower children to make a difference and look after the world around them. The Eco-heroes’ characters take responsibility for the planet and take a lead in bringing change to their schools and homes and the idea is that our own children will do the same. Each book has a personal message calling the readers to action to become Eco-heroes themselves and highlight the urgency of the crisis to others.
Can you tell us some positive impact stories because of your books?
Yes, absolutely. We have had lots of children and teachers writing to us to tell us about the activities they have taken up as schools or as individuals because of our books. There have been eco-clubs formed and art competitions, composting and beach cleans. Several children have also written their own short stories. The biggest thing we have found is that the children tell the parents and teachers to copy what the characters are doing in the books, so that’s fantastic. One particular little girl in the Early Years told her teacher that she liked The Eco-heroes so much that she wanted them to come to her classroom and meet everyone. She got her way and we ended up meeting her whole school! Even if we only have a positive impact on one child’s actions, then it’s all worthwhile.
What response do you get on your school visits?
Totally amazing. The kids treat us like us celebrities and we always have really good fun which was unheard of when I went to school. We make the sessions interactive with competitions, readings, drawings and prizes, so it’s stuff that kids love to get involved in and they can relate to the characters. The books also align with The UAE Vision, The National Climate Change Plan, The National Reading Strategy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, so teachers are usually quite happy to have us take over for a while!
Would you like to see more environmental education in schools? What would this look like?
Yes, absolutely. As His Excellency the late Sheikh Zayed, said
“We would like to see environmental awareness among our children in schools and universities, not only because they are the future leaders, but also because they have a role to play now.”
We have an obligation and social responsibility to educate about what’s really happening.
Thankfully environmental awareness has become more of a news topic in the last 18 months since Greta Thunberg became a household name. However, before her influence on the world stage it was really not being given the attention it deserved at a global level and certainly in education. The environment is often treated as an afterthought in many school systems, squeezed into break times or optional after-school activities in a bid to fit the core curriculum into the timetable. The climate crisis is real and is happening now. It is a bigger threat to our planet and existence than the current Covid-19 pandemic and yet it is not being addressed in the same way. If our education systems are changed to have the environment and sustainability at their core then the positive impact from that will follow, but they need to act fast.
How has COVID impacted your business and perhaps your outlook on the environment?
Our school visits had to stop just before Spring Break kicked in, so that did have a financial impact on us. We also delayed the launch of the fourth book, but ultimately, we are fortunate as we don’t have staff or big overheads. Many businesses have not been so lucky.
My view is that environmental messaging is still more important than ever. We have seen that governments can respond quickly to a health crisis with hard hitting measures, so we now need to them to respond with big-impact reactions to protect us against the climate crisis.
What does the post COVID world look like?
I believe we need to be mindful of what world we are all rushing back to and what really matters. Otherwise, our new normal will be as dysfunctional and destructive as life before the pandemic and that would be an enormous waste of opportunity for us all.
What are some of the sustainable things you do in your daily life?
It’s a case of leading by example really but I don’t always get it right. Often people in my house don’t want to do as I do, especially the teenager. For example, I’ve been vegan for a long time, but my family only switched to plant milk last year after a lot of campaigning by me and resistance from them. They also reduced their meat consumption to once a week because they are now more aware of the benefits and the impact their food choices are having on the animals, their own bodies and the climate. Sustainable long-lasting changes can take time.
We also try to avoid palm oil, eat organic food and support local businesses as much as possible.
If there was one thing you could focus on in terms of the environment what would it be and why?
Even though the biggest single threat to our planet is pollution, my main focus would be changing human behaviours. The impact humans have had on this planet in the last two generations is staggering and almost beyond repair. If humans can quickly make the drastic changes needed to put the planet on course to meet the UN’s IPCC* ‘business as usual’ targets, then there is still hope. (*United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). These drastic changes must be driven by governments and led by corporates. However, on an individual level if everyone committed to making just one positive change per day then the cumulative effect of those changes would add up to something with much bigger impact. We just unwittingly witnessed this during the recent lockdowns across the world. It was amazing how quickly nature bounced back without us.
When people believe that they can make a difference they do and so it’s understanding the link between actions and impact which is key.
Are the characters inspired by real people?
I always get asked that by people and the answer is, yes, partly. The five characters are four different nationalities, two Emiratis, an Indian girl, a South African boy and a boy from Scotland. Sundos was specifically inspired by my Emirati friend, the Real Sundos. We used to have many heated debates and lots of laughs when we worked together and she has taught me many things about UAE culture. She is someone I will always remember from my time living in the UAE so it seemed very fitting to have her as the leading local lady in the series.
Finlay was inspired by my youngest boy and Leona’s son who are collectively quite naughty, testing and funny. The other characters grew as ideas, inspired by kids we see every day.
What’s next for you?
In an ideal situation, The Eco-heroes would be finished saving the world by early next year, but I think they might be around for a while longer yet! We will publish the last two books of the series in Q4 2020 and will find a distributor to take over the sales so we can focus on doing the things we enjoy the most, like interacting with our readers and partners. The e-book versions will be launching next year once the whole series is complete and hopefully we will continue to inspire positive action from all the children we meet along the way.
Where can our readers buy your books?
They are available on www.saveourworld.me and at Magrudys, Booktopia, Mumzworld and several other outlets. They are also translated into Arabic.
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Colette Bar – Author of the Eco-Heroes series and founder of Save Our World