► A lesson in humility
Using drawing, and in particular comic strips, to share the foundations of knowledge about living things: this is the new challenge of the naturalist Bruno David, former president of the National Museum of Natural History whose test At the dawn of the sixth extinction (Grasset, 2021, €19.50) is adapted here. A true ecological plea, this work goes back several million years to better demonstrate man’s destructive capacity and call for humility.
The gentle and meticulous outline of the designer Simon Hureau adds to the subject and makes it possible to transmit a great density of knowledge on biodiversity from a simple narration, based on the presentation of two middle school students. Moral of the story : “There is no planet B.”
Living it alive, Rue de Sèvres, 168 p., €25
► The IPCC within everyone’s reach
The comic strip by Iris-Amata Dion, doctor of atmospheric and climate sciences, and designer Xavier Henrion invites us to meet nine IPCC researchers the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. With a bias, boards after boards: that of dialogue to better dissect human responsibility in the phenomenon. Thus, the two authors depict themselves discovering the conclusions of the IPCC and realizing the scale of the challenge. In this intelligent popularization comic, we learn a lot and we share the emotion that runs through the characters. Objective achieved: inform us to push us to act.
Climate horizons, meeting with nine scientists from the IPCC, Glénat, 320 p., €25
► The hidden side of concrete
An architect, originally a fervent follower concrete led her photojournalist spouse into an investigation into this building material. The beginning of a comic book adventure, which recalls the certainly essential place of concrete in our societies but also the deleterious consequences of its manufacture and its use in all directions.
Overconsumption of sand, CO2 emissions, planned obsolescence… This book, full of twists and turns and humor, despite the seriousness of the subject, intelligently shows the downside of our concrete buildings. All without leaving the reader helpless, since the work explores alternatives, like the three little pigs: straw, wood and stone have their virtues!