It’s not everyday that you come across two middle-school-aged kids who are so passionate about saving the planet and protecting endangered species that they’ve written a children’s book about it.
Abbey & Aiden are the amazing sibling duo behind the new book “For Pete’s Sake.”
About Abbey & Aiden
At ages 8 and 7, co-authors Abbey and Aiden Lemons met "Pete" and Dr. Birute Galdikas (the lady in the big floppy hat) at the Orangutan Foundation International Care Center in Indonesian Borneo. There, they witnessed first hand the plight of orangutans.
They began to understand how palm oil products are causing the destruction of tropical rainforests throughout the world and the natural habitats of animals like orangutans.
Now that Abbey and Aiden are both in middle school, they wanted to share what they learned. So they wrote this book. Please pass it on to your friends!
A portion of the proceeds of this book will go to fund the return of Pete and his friends back into the wild, within the safety of the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve.
For more information on the project and how to help the rainforests visit this website.
Join the movement on social media: #SavePete
I had the pleasure of interviewing these two awesome kids to find out what motivated them to write this story and to learn more about what they are hoping to accomplish with the #SavePete movement! Here’s what we discussed:
What inspired you to write this book?
“What really inspired us to write this book was the fact that our dad has been working on this project to save the orangutans for a very long time, and when we were young, we always thought that it wasn’t much of a problem, but now we realize how devastating the situation with palm oil and deforestation around the world really is. The reason we wrote this book was to show people what is happening to our planet and how we're responsible.”
What are you hoping to achieve by sharing this story?
“By sharing this story we wish to show all people, of all ages, how important our beautiful world really is, and to take action instead of just ignoring it. We also hope to achieve some balance between palm companies and forest conservation.”
What is your connection to nature & the rainforest?
“Our connection to the rainforest and nature is far greater than just the Rimba Raya reserve though it still plays a large part in our lives. We go to the beach every day and go hiking in the island’s jungle as often as we can. We're both certified scuba divers since 10 years old and have made hundreds of dives now. We spend most of our free time in nature.”
Why do you think it’s important for children to understand how palm oil is connected to the destruction of the rainforest?
“Children, including us, need to know what is happening to our world because later in life if we don’t know what’s happening, it's going to be a slap in the face and it will be our responsibility and our problem to fix. Soon we or our children will ask what happened to the trees? What happened to all the beautiful creatures and plants that our parents or grandparents told us stories about, and what happened to the orangutans?”
What is your message to global citizens who want to take climate action?
“Dear global citizens; if you want to take action in helping with climate change and deforestation then don’t sit around doubting you can make a difference, because really anyone can. You just have to be willing to take responsibility for the things you consume.”
Anything else you would like to share?
“We would like to say thank everyone involved in making this book happen, especially our parents. We also wanted to say that we didn’t write this to impress people or show what good kids we are, we wrote this to make a real difference. We hope the story of Pete will reach a lot of people.”