This St. John's hydroponic company is growing into a children's book

SucSeed began with bringing vegetable growing into homes and classrooms, but a new idea has now sprung up in the literary world with its own sustainable superhero book series.

After a year in the making, "Seed-EO" Emily Bland and her team have released a children's book series aimed at helping kids become more aware of actions they can take to tackle issues like clean energy, climate action and poverty.

"We've also done our best to make them as diverse and inclusive. So often some things that might have been looked at as a disability actually becomes part of their superpower and how they get to make a better world for us all," said Bland.

So far, SucSeed — a for-profit social enterprise that prioritizes improving food security and promoting environmental sustainability across Canada — has released two books and an activity book, introducing 17 superheroes.

The plan is to have a book centred on each character, who are inspired by the United Nations 17 sustainable development goals — targets for ending poverty and other deprivations in ways that improve health and education, reduce inequality and spur economic growth while tackling climate change and preservation. 

The first book is based around a character called Rori and deals with responsible consumption and production.

"Her journey includes composting, going to a thrift store, supporting a local farmer and then actually looking at ugly produce," Bland explained.

"Her parents are divorced but in a very positive relationship. So you also get to see the different family dynamics that play out in the background of coming from a split household that's very supportive over Rori growing up."

The Sustainable Superheroes series started off as characters to help the SucSeed team teach lessons about healthy living as part of its classroom outreach initiative. But Bland said they kept getting questions from kids about their back stories and how they got their superpowers.

"About a year ago we decided to start writing back stories and giving each of the superheroes four different actions that they did … to create a better world for us all," she said.

Bland said the books are written by SucSeed — with plans to bring on collaborations with future books — and illustrated by Geri Coady, a St. John's artist living in the U.K.

Super Rori was also written in partnership with Lomi, an automatic indoor compost company, said Bland.

Tackling sustainability

Bland said they centred the series on the United Nations development goals because it did a good job of breaking down what sustainability is and what people can do on big issues like protecting marine life and combating hunger.

"And for us, adding that sustainable superheroes component was trying to make it more of a proactive positive," she said.

At the back of the book is a checklist of actions for kids to follow, like shopping at thrift stores.

The addition of a book series meshes well with the SucSeed mission to improve food security and promote environmental sustainability, said Bland.

"It's very in line with the core values of SucSeed. It's about empowering people to take control," she said. "It's knowing where your food is coming from. It's living a more sustainable life."

SucSeed partnered with more than 1,500 classrooms on its hydroponics system, and there was an interest in more content.

"We've gotten that demand and push for more content, more activities, more learning experiences. So this is tied in really nicely for us," Bland said.

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