Port Sydney’s Matt Richter is taking a bold new step into the unknown. He’s embarking on what he referred to as a nerve-racking yet exciting new venture, while helping others along the way.
Matt Richter
It’s an idea the educator, father and provincial Green Party representative in Parry Sound-Muskoka has been mulling over for some time: a counting book that will get young readers not only counting numbers and syllables, but thinking about sustainable living.
“The whole idea of the book started many years ago. I was at a conference and people were talking about how to create a more sustainable future and what role kids would have in that,” he said.
During that same conference someone stood up and asked why kids can’t grow up learning how to count things like solar panels? He said that question struck a chord with him and he began looking online, in small bookstores as well as big box stores and came up empty.
“I started to look and see if there were any counting books in which the actual content of what you counted was based on what would be considered sustainable concepts, and I couldn’t find anything, so I started working on this book and now it’s done,” he said.
The book features numbers associated with things like composters, solar panels, buildings with grass roofs, and cloth diapers. Each number also has a link to the same number of syllables. For example, the number four is solar panels, which is also made up of four syllables.
For older primary students, the book also encourages discussions about sustainability. “So for older students getting their head around the idea that a lot of buildings are now having grass roofs put on top, that can lead to some research. They can look at how much energy it saves by doing that, why they do that, and where grass roofs are really popular.”
Each page has a corresponding blank page with icons on it, so that readers can add photos, pictures, locations and ideas. The book is also linked to a website with links geared to providing more information on the concepts presented in the book, titled Counting on the Future.
“So, going back to the solar panel on page four, go to the website and on the website I’ve linked the website that shows how much energy Ontario is using at any given second during the day and it breaks it down as to where that energy is coming from, whether it be solar, nuclear, hydro, wind, biomass,” explained Richter.
A page from Counting on the Future
He also gave a shout out to Connie Fisher and Gwen Smales of The Artsy Pear in Huntsville, who helped him find a printer for his book in Canada. His first run of the self-published book will be 500 with a dollar of each sale going to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Muskoka. The book will retail at $10.95 and be sold in places like The Great Vine in Huntsville and the Natural Food Market in Bracebridge.
Counting on the Future is expected to hit book shelves the week of December 14 -19. Check out the book’s website here.
Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our twice-weekly email digest and get some of our top stories delivered right to your inbox.
* indicates required
Kudos, Matt! This is something that ALL parents can get behind. As a father, you’ve realized that even very small children are sponges: they are always absorbing information. This publication will be a terrific first step in, indeed, passing on a better environment than the one which we inherited. I can’t wait to buy several for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Congratulations, Matt, on the publication of this great, interactive green book for kids! Bravo!