Ben Martynoga & Moose Allain

Explodapedia: Rewild - Can Nature heal Our World?

About Author

Ben Martynoga is a neuroscientist and science writer. Aftera decade at the forefront of brain research, he swapped his white coat for a pen and has written on everything from the history of biology through to the latest technological innovations. Ben lives, works and wanders in the Lake District. Find Ben @mountainogre

Moose Allain worked as an architect specialising in urban regeneration, and contributed to the UK's successful Olympic bid. As an artist and cartoonist, he has created animations for the BBC, illustrated the Pointless quiz show book, and had cartoons published in Private Eye and The Literary Review. Find him @MooseAllain

Interview

Explodapedia: Rewild - Can Nature Heal our World? (David Fickling Books)

May 2024

The latest in the fact-tastic Explodapedia series from David Fickling Books, Rewild: Can Nature Heal our World?, explores the biodiversity and climate crisis, and asks how rewilding nature can begin to help heal Earth and also help humanity by protecting the environment for future generations.

Review of Rewild: 'This book plants hope, rather than gloom, in young readers' minds.' Read a Chapter.

Q&A with Ben Martynoga & Moose Allain on nature and rewilding

"I aim to show why rewilding is vital for making a better future for wildlife, climate, and ultimately people.
It's a massive source of hope."

1. Can you tell us about the Explodapedia series, and what you'd like to achieve with each of the books?

Ben: The Explodapedia series is an 'exploded encyclopedia' - each title takes a big, fascinating topic and blasts it wide open for curious young minds to explore. The first books delve into the amazing world of biology; The Cell, The Gene and Evolution lay the building blocks for understanding what life is and how it works. Rewild then zooms out to consider nature's systems, how humans are damaging them and what we can do to heal the planet. The Brain, which is the next book in the series, is about the most awesome object evolution has ever created: the pinkish-grey thinking, feeling, dreaming lump of jelly between your ears.

"The Explodapedia tone is energetic, questioning, and focussed on making biology
relevant and fun."

2. What is the tone of the books, and how is this supported by the illustrations?

Ben: As a subject, biology - the science of living things - should be overflowing with LIFE, but sometimes school lessons focus too much on dry facts and dreary definitions. Not these books! The Explodapedia tone is energetic, questioning, and focussed on making biology relevant and fun. Moose's illustrations are absolutely central to this. As well as providing crystal-clear explanations for sometimes complex ideas, they bring the books' stories and characters to life, often injecting crucial doses of irreverent humour too.

Moose: Ben has developed a really interesting technique to make the subject engaging: the book is written in several voices. There is the expert author who tells us the story. Then there's the reader, who represents us, and gets to ask the kinds of questions and to express the kinds of fears and hopes that we might have. And then there's the crucial voice of someone - or rather some THING - who is at the heart of the subject and who gets to challenge the author and chide us, the humans, when necessary and occasionally laugh at us when we're foolish. In the case of Rewild, that character is a Fungus, in fact several characters who represent the huge networks of fungus which are so important to the survival of the natural world. I love setting out to draw all these characters, imagining what they might look like, as they interact throughout the book. Our books are packed with drawings, and sometimes they are quite small, so creating their expressions with a few simple lines and dots is a fun challenge.

3. How do you approach rewilding in the latest Explodapedia book, Rewild: Can Nature Heal our World?

Ben: Rewild confronts some difficult realities: human activities are causing the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis. Young people care deeply about these huge issues, so there's no point in skirting around them. In fact, more knowledge can inspire action and better solutions. I aim to show why rewilding is vital for making a better future for wildlife, climate, and ultimately people. It's a massive source of hope.

Moose: It's worth saying that the idea of science can be off-putting for some people, maybe some of us have memories of it being a subject that's hard to understand or of boring lessons in school. But Explodapedia is full of amazing stories and incredible people we meet along the way. We don't shy away from proper science, but it's all carefully explained with helpful diagrams. We don't want to make a dry text book, so we try to make it all as entertaining as possible while we find out about incredible stuff at the same time.

"We meet wolves helping trees grow, beavers protecting water, whales fertilizing seas, and even
resurrected woolly mammoths who could help keep the Arctic frozen!"

4. What areas do you cover in the book, and has it been created to 'dip into' or to read cover to cover?

Ben: The early chapters cover how natural systems work and the challenges they face. Then we hop between major ecosystems - forests, freshwater, oceans, Arctic, soils - exploring how we can revive them. We meet wolves helping trees grow, beavers protecting water, whales fertilizing seas, and even resurrected woolly mammoths who could help keep the Arctic frozen! We also hear from scientists, activists, and Indigenous peoples protecting the wild world. While chapters build on each other, some readers will enjoy dipping in and out.

5. How did you research the book - and did you also need to research the illustrations?

Ben: I've always been passionate about nature, and worked as a professional biologist for more than ten years, so poring over books, articles and online videos to research this book was often a total joy. But parts of it were painful too: I had to get up to speed on species extinctions, pollution and the effects of the climate crisis.

Moose: For each book I get a set of instructions for what I need to show. For each chapter I get a digital copy of all the writing, with spaces for my drawings. Sometimes the instructions will be quite specific and technical and they have to be right. Ben sends through references for me to look at so I can understand what's going on, then I will draw my interpretation. It might take a few goes to get it right; we have regular Zoom meetings to discuss the illustrations as I complete each chapter. Sometimes it will just say CARTOON and I will have free rein to come up with something. Often, as we tell the story, key figures from history, scientists, thinkers, pioneers, will appear and introduce us to their contributions. For example in our book Evolution, I had to draw a young Charles Darwin aboard his ship The Beagle. For that I had to research what the ship looked like, but also what sort of outfits the sailors at the time might wear so that some figures in the background look as historically accurate as possible. I had lots of fun researching for drawing all the different animals and habitats in Rewild.

"I think the book is really reassuring because it makes us feel there is hope,
and that even a tiny contribution from each of us will help."

6. Could rewilding really have a big impact if we all took it seriously enough? Did creating Rewild make you feel more positive about rewilding - or more concerned about our impact on nature?

Ben: 100%. Rewilding has the potential to make our future MUCH better. The book highlights successful rewilding initiatives already underway. They remind us that when we let it, nature comes roaring back - benefiting wildlife, climate AND people. There are still big challenges to overcome but making this book and - especially - seeing young people enjoy it have made more more optimistic.

Moose: It is undoubtedly a hugely important subject for all humanity - not just a passing fad, but as the book explains, something that is essential to maintain our planet's health. I think this message comes across loud and clear in the book. For me it was great to find out so much more about rewilding and I, like other readers, have the pleasure of being guided through this complex subject by Ben. I think the book is really reassuring because it makes us feel there is hope, and that even a tiny contribution from each of us will help. But the book doesn't shy away from the fact that the situation is critical and we need to act now. For me it feels like a book that everyone should read.

7. Which 'live' rewilding projects stand out for you?

Ben: On January 1st, 2000, I helped plant the first trees in one of Britain's very first rewilding projects, in the south of Scotland. Some 24 years later, it's a wildwood, colourful with wildflowers and birdsong, with eagles soaring overhead. It's a reminder of how quickly nature can bounce back. At sea, simply banning fishing in certain areas can make rewilding happen ever quicker.

Moose: I live in Devon in southwest England, not far from one of the places in the UK where beavers have been reintroduced, on the River Otter (which also has otters!). I am lucky enough to have seen both otters and beavers on the river. We stood and watched a mother beaver with two young (they're called 'kits'!) paddling about and nibbling. It was such a joyful moment and so exciting to know they are breeding and expanding their populations where I live. But I also love seeing small acts of rewilding - roundabouts in the city covered in wildflowers for example, or grass verges where they let the grass grow long. There's nothing to stop you asking your local council to consider how they can help with rewilding, if they're not already.

"We need everyone from teachers to business people, farmers and politicians to deeply care
about nurturing nature's revival."

8. Is there anything we can do as individuals to support rewilding in our homes and towns? Are there things you each do to support nature locally?

Ben: Rewild reminds us that small, local actions - e.g. 'seed bombing' or planting native flowers in your garden, window box or local park - all add up and also reconnect us to nature. But one big message is that one of the most powerful things we can do is simply to talk about rewilding - a lot! We need everyone from teachers to business people, farmers and politicians to deeply care about nurturing nature's revival. Spreading that passion and understanding is key to getting the big support rewilding desperately needs.

Moose: I live in Exeter, a town where you can see the surrounding green hills from the high street. Although we live in the town centre we do have a lovely, quiet garden, with beautiful trees and a small patch of lawn which we try to mow as little as possible. We have bee hotels, and small piles of logs to encourage wildlife, and a small pond in a pot which had tadpoles recently. Nearby there are peregrine falcons that nest on a church spire and we can hear their cries from our garden and occasionally see them flying over, sometimes carrying their lunch! We're lucky to have a garden, it means we get to be in little patch of nature and nature gets a little helping hand from us. I know it's not much on its own, but think of a bird's-eye view of a town: all those gardens doing their bit… it really starts to add up!

9. What else are you planning for Explodapedia? What other projects are you involved with?

Ben: Right now, we're hard at work finishing The Brain - starring a highly intelligent octopus on a mission to make humans more humble. It's full of (literally) mind-bending ideas. Alongside that, I'm enjoying science journalism, especially writing about rewilding for The Guardian, while researching future book topics. My favourite place and time to work is sneaking into the office early with a big cup of tea before the kids and dog wake up.

Moose: We're a couple of chapters into 'The Brain', which Ben quite rightly describes as the most amazing thing in the universe (the human brain, not the book!). A new book is always an exciting journey to start out on. Today I've been working on a drawing of our reader character and an octopus travelling through a brain in a tiny submarine-like craft. It really is a fun job. I live in a house on top of the old city wall, parts of which were built by the Romans. So when I'm at my desk drawing I'm literally sitting on nearly 2000 years of history! But it also means there are no houses opposite me so I can gaze out of my studio window at a fantastic panoramic view of the wooded hills that lie across the River Exe valley from my house.

My brain only seems to work properly if I spend at least an hour - ideally more - per day,
walking, jogging or cycling through green spaces

10. Where do you go to recharge and escape your desk - nature or city? Any favourite spots?

Ben: My brain only seems to work properly if I spend at least an hour - ideally more - per day, walking, jogging or cycling through green spaces - the wilder the better. I almost never feel guilty about pausing work to go outside, since it so often leads to better ideas.

Moose: Where I live in Devon we are blessed with an amazing variety natural environments: miles of coast, beautiful rivers, and the wild landscape of Dartmoor. And of course we're surrounded by miles of country lanes, hedges, fields, woods and rivers. From my house I can cycle out along the River Exe to its marshy borders where you can see warblers and kingfishers, and all sorts of water birds.

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