Till human voices wake us and we drown

Sami lives in a tiny fishing village off the coast of the Bay of Bengal, eking out a living alongside his grandfather fishing in the same rising waters that claimed his parents and his childhood home. The sea levels continue to rise, taking chunks out of the coastline, salinating the soil and creating new climate migrants, and Sami’s whole life is a fight for survival in a community that is getting increasingly hostile and territorial as resources dwindle.

Yuki lives in a remote Canadian town in the Arctic circle, which is emptying out as residents move to cities with more opportunities. She has learned in school about “grolar” bears—the offspring of grizzly bears and polar bears, two breeds that wouldn’t normally meet or mate, but are coming together as climate change pushes them into each others’ territory. Grolars don’t have a natural habitat, and have not adapted to the environments they are born into, which makes them dangerous to humans, and Yuki knows how humans respond to natural threats.

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We follow the adventures of these two young people in a braided narrative in Global, a graphic novel by best-selling duo Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano, and the crew behind the hugely popular Artemis Fowl (2001) novel series. Global avoids mentioning any culpable parties or power players, and instead, focuses on the human lives impacted by the climate crisis. Each of our protagonists goes out on a classic Hero’s Quest: Sami braves pirates and the threat of stormy seas to revisit his drowned home, while Yuki and her trusty canine companion Lockjaw head out to the icy wilderness hoping to document a bear. The perils come at a heart-stopping pace, and the tension is only amped up by the narrative device that switches perspectives at cliffhanger moments, so you’re always running on adrenaline.

The arguments in favour of a book like this are many. Despite rising temperatures and extreme weather, there continues to be a staggering amount of climate change denial, particularly among Americans, with Forbes recently reporting that less than half of the population believe in human-driven climate change. An easily digestible medium, such as Global, with its beautiful illustrations (Rigano’s moody blues and greens really add to the atmosphere of discovery and danger) can do away with confusing numbers and stats and really put a human face on the issue. Pitching it to young adults also helps get the message across before political cynicism sets in. Showing two vastly different landscapes also sheds light on the scope of the problems and reaffirms that it is everyone’s problem, and of course, kudos must be given to a voice given to minority characters.

Having said all of that, the book isn’t without its weaknesses. The two kids frequently find themselves on the wrong side of the line between ‘brave’ and ‘foolhardy’ for incentives that may be considered low stakes, and this makes it a little difficult to sympathise with them. I personally found myself rooting for Lockjaw above everyone else. That little nod to our connectedness as a species may either read as inspiring or contrived, depending on one’s mood, and that’s not the mark of a strong finish.

Nonetheless, in terms of a gripping adventure tale, Global scratches the itch, and would not be the worst subject for a motion picture adaptation. The graphic novel is available at Tara Books in Banani.

Sabrina Fatma Ahmad is a writer, journalist, and the founder of Sehri Tales.