On Friday, author and advocate Chelsea Clinton stopped by the Saint Louis Zoo for a sold-out event, reading from her new illustrated children’s book, Don’t Let Them Disappear: 12 Endangered Species Across the Globe.
Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was inspired to write the book after having conversations with children and discovering a new generation’s passion for animal welfare. “I kept hearing from kids that one of the things they cared most about was trying to protect animals both in their own community—some kids are really involved in supporting local animal shelters and rescues—and also saving endangered species around the world,” she told SLM. The book shares fun details about 12 animals, as well as their range, their endangered status, and why those animals are endangered. It empowers kids to help with a “What Can You Do?” section that shares tips like, “Tell your family they shouldn’t buy jewelry, trophies or anything else made from endangered animals.” If you missed the reading, don’t worry: The book will be available for purchase at the zoo.
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For Clinton, the issue is also personal. She fell in love with elephants at an early age and has two young children—Charlotte, 4, and Aidan, 2, plus a new baby on the way—who enjoy going to the zoos where they live in New York City. SLM caught up with Clinton at Polar Bear Point, Kali the bear swimming around in the background, to learn more about the book.
One of the Saint Louis Zoo’s missions is to educate visitors, and young visitors, about wildlife conservation. Besides reading your book and visiting zoos, how can parents inspire their kids to be more aware of how their actions affect wild animals and the environment?
With our kids, we talk about recycling at home, because though they’re small, they can carry an empty cardboard box to the recycling bin. And it’s helping to preserve our resources, be climate smart, ensure that we’re doing our part to fight global warming, and that helps save the polar bears. I actually think that makes real sense to our kids, because it takes climate change out of something that might seem abstract to them and puts it in terms they already really care about: saving animals that they feel a connection to, even though polar bears live many thousands of miles away from where we live in New York City.
What are some other things you do with your children to start that conversation?
We also talk about how we would never buy ivory, we would never buy anything made from rhino horn, we would never buy anything made from a giraffe’s tail or a lion’s mane. And I’m really thankful that my kids are horrified that anybody would do that. My daughter says to me, “I don’t understand.” But unfortunately people do [buy those items], so we have to help them understand that these products only come from dead animals. As I tell my kids, ivory always looks better on an elephant than it does on a person.
Before writing the book, you had a lot of conversations with children about what they were most passionate about in terms of conservation. What were some of those issues?
I found a lot of kids—particularly later elementary and middle school—are really focused on trying to stop the ivory trade. Because ivory is still legal in most states—including in Missouri, it’s legal to buy and sell ivory. And that is an issue where kids can write their state legislatures, write their governor, and say “No, we don’t think it should be legal to sell ivory here, because ivory only comes from a dead elephant.”
You’ve said that there are things children can talk to adults about to educate them on wildlife conservation. Have you noticed any in particular from your talks with children?
Kids are really passionate about helping to educate their parents and grandparents about [the ivory trade]. A lot of people historically have thought that ivory grows back, but that doesn’t happen. And for African elephants, who rely on their tusks to reach food, they can’t live without their tusks. Even if you could remove the ivory safely, which is almost impossible, the animal would still die. I found kids really galvanized by that.
There are also kids who really care about polar bears, who understand the connection between polar bears and global warming. As temperatures rise and sea ice melts, there are fewer places for the polar bears to live, and also fewer places for the seals, who are the polar bears’ main source of food. Increasingly, polar bears are dying of starvation or they’re drowning because they can’t swim from one ice floe to the next.
So I’m inspired by so many kids who are taking their favorite animals and using them to help explain to their parents or grandparents why the activism really matters to them and what they want their parents or grandparents to do, whether that’s to help put banning ivory sales on the map at the state legislature level, or trying to fight climate change and global warming.
What do you hope children take away from the book?
I hope that young readers take from this book not only fun facts about the animals but that they can be saved if we make different choices in what we’re buying. If we don’t buy ivory than there’s no reason these animals can’t be around forever.
