Mission Manta Ray by Philip Kavvadias

Mission Manta Ray is one of three book in Philip Kavvadias’s series and he shares insight into these books in his guest blog below.

In my day job I help hundreds of companies set carbon reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement, in other words I help them make their contribution to keeping the global temperature increase to 1.5°C. The effects of that seemingly small increase will be catastrophic for a lot of people but we can’t stop it anymore. The only thing we can do now is to prevent it from going any higher.

And yet, although the scientific proof of what’s causing climate change should be unquestionable (not to mention seeing its effects with our own eyes) there is still an unbelievably large number of voices that think we should not spend resources in trying to stop it.

This is what the antagonist in my first three books believes. They are a big and formidable organisation with cutting edge technology and an ingrained conviction that human progress is all that matters, and we should continue to burn fossil fuel in order to achieve that. Yes, there is a little side effect of climate change but we can live with that.

The good guys in the trilogy naturally disagree. They are a secret agency, set up to combat powerful polluters like that.

The two clash, from Mission Microraptor to Mission Manta Ray to Mission Monster Mind. Finn, Milo and Artemis, the main characters in the first book, but also Tasi and Ether, who join them in books II and III, have a lot of work to do to stop their evil enemy.

Sometimes I also feel that trying to convince people about the importance of immediate and substantial action against climate change is becoming harder.

As governments around the world change, we seem to be going backwards in our commitment and alignment to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases. People come into power that “don’t believe in that” and that’s really worrying.

We need to continue (we have barely started) and we need to cultivate the scientists, engineers and policy makers of the future, the children that are in primary school today, the generation that will come up with the solutions we haven’t yet found and will work towards climate justice.

Of course, my books are not preaching out loud, they are first and foremost funny adventures, with action, pace, constant humour, high tech and terrifying villains. But the children get the message, they understand that natural balance is – after all – the most delicate and important thing, and that upending that for the benefit of one species can only lead to disaster for all.

I hope you enjoy the Microraptor Series and I hope you give some thought to the question that lies inside it: Human dominance or natural balance?