John Murray to Publish EARTHSHOT Book to Inspire a Decade of Action to Save The Planet
Earthshot
How To Save Our Planet
John Murray today announce EARTHSHOT: HOW TO SAVE OUR PLANET, the definitive book of The Earthshot Prize, which aims to inspire a decade of action to repair our planet. A once-in-a-generation global publishing event, the book was co-authored by Colin Butfield, former executive director at the international conservation charity WWF, and multi-award-winning producer/ director Jonnie Hughes. It will feature an exclusive introduction from Prince William.
The Earthshot Prize and book are centred upon five ‘Earthshots’ – simple but ambitious goals for our planet which, if achieved by 2030, will improve life for us all, and for generations to come:
• Protect and Restore Nature
• Clean our Air
• Revive our Oceans
• Build a Waste-Free World
• Fix our Climate
Launched by Prince William and The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2020, and inspired by President Kennedy’s ‘Moonshot ’, The Earthshot Prize is the most ambitious and prestigious award of its kind. It aims to discover and scale the best solutions to help repair our planet over the next 10 years. Every year from 2021 until 2030, The Earthshot Prize will find and reward inclusive solutions to five ‘Earthshot ’ goals: Protect and restore nature; Clean our air; Revive our oceans; Build a waste-free world; and Fix our climate.
EARTHSHOT: HOW TO SAVE OUR PLANET will be the authoritative book of The Earthshot Prize, highlighting the urgency of the environmental challenges facing our world while also providing readers with inspirational case studies of the incredible solutions happening globally to repair our planet. The book will be published alongside a landmark 5-part BBC One TV series in the autumn, created by Butfield and Hughes. The creative heads behind the phenomenally successful documentary David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet and long-time advisors to The Earthshot Prize, the two co-authors have unparalleled access to the people, science and imagery behind the project. Their significant TV credits include The Hunt, Our Planet and A Life on Our Planet.
The book will also feature contributions from Members of The Earthshot Prize Council, including Christiana Figueres, co-founder of Global Optimism and former UN Climate Chief responsible for delivery of the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change, singer and philanthropist Shakira Mebarak, environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, former astronaut onboard the International Space Station Naoko Yamazaki, and broadcaster and natural historian Sir David Attenborough. The Earthshot Prize Council is a global team of influential individuals who will be responsible for awarding The Earthshot Prize every year from 2021 until 2030.
The Earthshot Prize is supported by its Global Alliance, an unprecedented network of organisations worldwide which share the ambition of the Prize that includes the WWF, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Economic Forum, National Geographic Society and Greenpeace, amongst many others.
Jonnie Hughes and Colin Butfield said: “The Earthshot concept is simple: we have ten years to turn the tide, fifty ingenious ideas, and one goal – to save our planet. What we need is action and optimism. Our book reaches from the coral reefs of Mexico, via palm oil plantations in Borneo and sheep farms in Australia, to the forests of Kenya. It ’s an explanation of how we’ve got to this point, and how – by acting collectively – we can fix it.”
Nick Davies, Managing Director, John Murray: “EARTHSHOT: HOW TO SAVE OUR PLANET arrives at a time when the environmental crisis has finally reached mass consciousness. It ’s poised to be the decade’s biggest environmental title, a major commercial book on climate change that will educate and inform readers globally, and help inspire the decisive, collective action. This is more than a prize and a book; it is one of the defining social and cultural movements of the next decade, involving everyone committed to tackling the greatest challenge we face – to curtail climate change and repair the planet.”
The book will be published ahead of the first-ever Earthshot Prize awards ceremony which will take place in London on Sunday, October 17, 2021. Broadcast to a global audience, the inaugural awards ceremony will celebrate the global finalists before awarding the first five Prize winners. These solutions will have the greatest impact on the biggest environmental challenges facing our planet and each awardee will receive £1 million to scale their solutions.
World English language rights for EARTHSHOT: HOW TO SAVE OUR PLANET were acquired by Nick Davies, MD of John Murray, from Robert Kirby at United Agents on behalf of The Royal Foundation. Award-winning communications consultancy FMcM Associates have been appointed to handle media relations.
John Murray will publish EARTHSHOT in the UK, Europe and across the Commonwealth on Thursday, 30th September, and in North America on Tuesday, 5th October.
Social media: @earthshotprize / #EarthshotPrize
For more information about The Earthshot Prize, visit: www.earthshotprize.org
Notes to Editors
About the Earthshot Prize
The Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious environment prize in history, launched in October 2020 by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, and designed to discover and scale the best solutions to repair our planet over the next ten years. The Prize is backed by The Earthshot Prize Council, a global team of influential individuals, who will be responsible for awarding The Earthshot Prize every year from 2021 until 2030. The Earthshot Prize is supported by its Global Alliance, an unprecedented network of organisations worldwide which share the ambition of the Prize. Within the Global Alliance are its strategic funding partners, a group of leading global philanthropists including Aga Khan Development Network, Bloomberg Philanthropies, DP World in partnership with Dubai EXPO 2020, the Jack Ma Foundation, Marc and Lynne Benioff, Rob & Melani Walton Foundation, and The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
The full list of The Earthshot Prize Council is:
• His Royal Highness Prince William;
• Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah (Jordan);
• Cate Blanchett – actor, producer and humanitarian (Australia);
• Christiana Figueres – co-founder of Global Optimism, former UN Climate Chief responsible for delivery of the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change;
• Dani Alves – professional footballer (Brazil);
• Sir David Attenborough – broadcaster and natural historian (UK);
• Ernest Gibson – community activist (Fiji);
• Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim – environmental activist (Chad);
• Indra Nooyi – business executive and former Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo (US & India);
• Jack Ma – philanthropist, entrepreneur and UNSDG Advocate (China);
• Luisa Neubauer – climate justice activist (Germany);
• Naoko Yamazaki – former astronaut onboard the International Space Station (Japan);
• Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – Director-General World Trade Organisation (Nigeria);
• Shakira Mebarak – singer and philanthropist (Colombia);
• Yao Ming - Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and environmentalist (China).
About John Murray
John Murray publishers was founded in 1768 and celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2018. John Murray was awarded Imprint of the Year at the 2017 British Book Awards, and in the past five years Murray authors have won the Costa Biography Award, the Costa First Novel Award, the Royal Society Science Book Prize, the Women’s Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Encore Award, among others. John Murray Press, which John Murray forms part of, was shortlisted for Publisher of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards. It is part of the Hachette Group.
About FMcM Associates
FMcM are an award-winning communications consultancy that specialises in literature and the arts, with an impressive client list and a big reputation. Whether working on book campaigns, on literary prizes and festivals, or on pioneering industry initiatives, the agency represent some of the most inspiring and exciting brands, authors and publishers in the literary landscape.
