Inaam Chattha did not plan to write children’s books.
“That is an idea that I couldn’t even think of when I applied to the fellowship program.”
When he began the Youth Action and the Environment Pilot Fellowship, Green Mind was focused on workshops about climate anxiety for university and high school students. But when he started running those workshops, he realized there was a gap: not enough was being done to reach younger audiences. So he decided to experiment with writing a children’s book.
“I thought, let’s work on one draft and see how people respond to it, how children respond to it, and see if we can really fulfill our initial objective through a different approach.”
The reframed objective: “Make sure that children know what the climate crisis is and have tools to navigate the uncertainty and grief that comes with knowing about what is happening to our planet.”
Today, Green Mind has produced four children’s books in two years, including “Lila and the Cloud of Change” and “Noura’s Jar of Worries,” plus an animated short film narrated by Inaam’s younger brother, and a fifth book in progress.
Making Climate Knowledge Understandable
Inaam is a medical student in a dual-degree program at the University of Toronto, studying medicine and pursuing a master’s in engineering. His path into environmental work started from the scientific side.
“I knew the epidemiology. I knew the strategies. I was like the PubMed of the space.” But that knowledge wasn’t reaching the people who needed it most. “There were all these papers, all these statistics, but not really a space or an outlet for younger people to engage in. Nobody’s going to go on Lancet to read an academic paper in that way.”
The fellowship provided an opportunity to reframe this unique understanding, and turn it into action through thought leadership: taking in what already exists in the research and making it accessible to the audiences who otherwise might not be hearing it.
“I don’t need to reinvent the wheel. I just need to shape that wheel into something that’s accessible, just like a children’s toy car, so individuals who are of a younger age can access that information in vocabulary or language that they understand.”
Growing as a Leader
Over the past few years, Inaam’s relationship to leadership changed.
“In the past, I sometimes had a hard time with wanting to be a part of everything in previous organizations or leadership positions. I wanted to be part of the marketing team, the execution team, the planning team.”
Growing Green Mind during the fellowship, with support from monthly coaching sessions and self-reflections, helped Inaam examine those patterns. “Initially, I was involved in everything and had a lot on my plate. But over time and with more experience, I realized that some of the team’s members and volunteers were equally passionate. I always viewed this organization as a child of my own, and it’s okay to trust others with what I’ve built, to let them run with it, and even amplify its growth.”
Today, Inaam is transitioning Green Mind’s leadership to a collaborator while continuing to lead workshops and write books. “I think it’s time for a new perspective within that organization as well.”
Where Things Are Going
Inaam is now carrying the same approach into new territory. He is working with the Canadian Coalition for Green Healthcare to build decarbonization guidebooks for surgical specialties, applying the same audience questions that governed the children’s books.
The intersection of climate and health is, for Inaam, visible across medicine. “We see it across different specialties. Be it internal medicine or surgery, there is evidence that supports that climate change can lead to drastic health effects, including more dermatologic burns, exacerbated symptoms of COPD and asthma and significant cardiovascular risk.”
“There’s so much evidence on the different conditions that climate change is causing, and it affects all of medicine, all the different specialties, yet it’s not viewed as an imminent threat.”
Learn more about Green Mind on their website, and on Instagram.
Amanda Mayer
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