Dear Indy: A Father’s Plea for Climate Action is a clarion call to humanity to look inside itself and see the damage our species is inflicting on the natural world, the animals that share our incredible planet, and how this is leading, ultimately, to the sixth extinction, that will likely include us.
The book takes us on a journey around the world to see how the climate crisis is already impacting our planet and where we are heading on our current trajectory. From natural disasters barreling through cities and deluges destroying crops; heatwaves killing thousands, and wildfires killing billions of animals, the book looks at the risks we face from ignoring the threat of climate change and biodiversity loss. It also highlights the threat of both economic and societal collapse. The impacts humanity is having on the natural world are described and our treatment of non-human animals is detailed with links being made between the future of ecosystems and our own.
Dear Indy then goes back in time to the start of the inequality and the beginning of our thirst for greed. We then travel forward, stopping briefly to identify key events and salient individuals that have led us to the precipice we currently inhabit.
Finally, we look at solutions that our elites are pushing us towards in order to continue the march towards “progress”, and then look at alternative solutions that would benefit the masses, rather than the few, while simultaneously allowing us to remain within our carbon budget, and give the forests and oceans a chance to bounce back from the brink.
Simon Whalley is a forty-four-year-old husband and father to an eleven-year-old son. He is originally from Wales but has spent the past twenty-three years in Asia where he has bought and sold Vespas, worked in the Vietnamese shipping industry, and taught English at every level from kindergarten to university in Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan. He has a masters degree in teaching English to Students of Other Languages (TESOL) and currently teaches English language and literature at an International Baccalaureate (IB) School on an island in the Seto Sea, Japan. Here, with his wife and son, he looks after a former mandarin farm which is being turned into an organic food forest. He was a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion Japan, the websites foodfacts.jp and discussearth.com, a contributing author to Commondreams.org, and theCarbon Almanac.
Endorsements
"If animals and poor humans wanted to indict industrial society for its crimes against them, they would do well to absorb Simon Whalley’s well-researched book, “Dear Indy, A Father’s Plea for Climate Action,” to draw up the charge sheet. Whalley’s blow-by-blow account of our destruction and pollution of the life-support systems of the planet and the exploitation of the poor is cringe-worthy, considering that those in the scientific and journalistic professions who helped document these criminal activities were largely impotent to do anything about them. With letters to his 11-year old son, Indy, interspersed throughout, this book is a must read for all conscious humans."
Dr. Sailesh Rao
Author, Founder, and Executive Director of Climate Healers
“This book is poignant. The letters from father to child, beginning “Dear Indy”, that punctuate the text, bring tears to the eyes at times. When parents are willing to face what is being bequeathed to their children, everything can change. Simon Whalley is trying to model this vital process.”
Prof. Rupert Read
Author, PARENTS FOR A FUTURE.
"Thankfully for the world’s eight billion humans, Simon Whalley has pulled together a virtual encyclopedic guide to steps we must take to save our species. And he backs it all up with with over 800 references. For all the innocent children of the world, including Whalley’s young son — get this “Dear Indy" book, read it carefully and share it with everyone you know.”
J. Morris Hicks
engineer. writer. big picture guy.
"Dear Indy, a Father's Plea for Climate Action is a comprehensive examination of the history of climate science, the daunting challenge of our present climate emergency, and the only sane solutions. It's also a personal book, a father's urgent cry to save the future for his child."