‘Eco the Elephant’ co-authors Roxy Hreb and Zach Fieldman met as environmental science academy students at High Tech High School in Secaucus, where they found common ground on the subjects of entrepreneurship and sustainability. Photo courtesy of Zach Fieldman

“Eco the Elephant Saves the Jungle” is the inaugural book for an environmental book company created by Hudson County high school students Zach Fieldman and Roxy Hreb. Its winning combination of a lovable elephant, playful artwork and a kid-friendly message will inspire today’s young readers to become tomorrow’s champions of sustainability. 

 “The story follows Eco, our environmental hero, as he helps his friend, Mandy the Monkey, save the jungle,” Hreb said. “It begins with a discouraged Mandy, who is sad because there are no more trees to swing on.” By uttering his signature catchphrase — “Trippy Trunks!” — Eco rejuvenates the deforested jungle and brings back trees for Mandy to swing upon. 

 This title is the first outing in a series of adventures with Eco and his animal friends; the next book will see Eco dive under the sea and into the world of ocean plastic and coral reef pollution, according to Hreb and Fieldman. 

The inaugural title, ‘Eco the Elephant Saves the Jungle,’ is the first outing in a series of adventures with Eco and his animal friends. Photo courtesy of Zach Fieldman

 The classmates and co-authors met as environmental science academy students at High Tech High School in Secaucus, where they found common ground on the subjects of entrepreneurship and sustainability. “We discovered our shared passion for environmental business and set off to share it with the rest of our high school by starting up the business club to gather a group of business-minded peers,” Hreb said. 

 Members of a generation growing increasingly aware of the environmental challenges facing our planet, the two see value in kids having environmental education at a young age. 

 “My partner Zach and I are very passionate about the environment, and we plan on studying environmental studies in college. We recognize that many of our current environmental solutions are simply reactionary Band-Aids on the ecological mistakes that we have allowed to happen. Through Eco the Elephant, we want to foster an environmentally conscious paradigm shift within younger generations and encourage them to become future leaders of sustainability,” she said. 

 Now that Eco is out there in the world, the two enjoy hearing feedback from kids who have read the book and learned from it.  

 “Having your published work make an impact on kids is undoubtedly the best part of being a published author. It has been a rewarding experience for us both, though we also think of our roles within Eco the Elephant to extend beyond authorship. As self-published authors, we handle all of the marketing and distribution ourselves, so we also serve as business managers.” 

 Sustainability is key in the running of their small business — all books are printed sustainably and ethically sourced. And for every book sold, the company donates one dollar to an environmental charity relevant to each book in the series. For the first book, the authors chose the U.S. Forest Service’s Plant-A-Tree program, in keeping with Eco the Elephant’s jungle-saving spirit. 

Hreb and Fieldman hope the lovable elephant, playful artwork and kid-friendly message will inspire today’s young readers to become tomorrow’s champions of sustainability. Photo courtesy of Zach Fieldman

 The Plant-A-Tree program, run by the Department of Agriculture, uses donated funds to restore forests in national parks throughout the country. The program funds projects in areas that need reforestation, where fires or other disturbances have caused a drastic loss of trees and forest. 

The young author-entrepreneurs are grateful to have started their journey by building on the example of famous children’s media, like Peppa Pig and The Lorax,” which paved the way for these conversations to begin. However, Hreb said they both feel more action is needed if these ideas are to have a measurable impact on the long-term health of our planet. 

 “These conversations are important. However, they need to be expanded so that they ingrain sustainability into daily practices. The bigger systemic change that needs to happen is the induction of climate consciousness into our culture, from parents to kids. To that end, the fictional rhetoric behind climate change needs to be widespread in order to galvanize people to make more sustainable choices. To us, a large part of that change comes from early childhood media that supports these ideas and shows characters making active choices to help the environment.” 

 “Eco the Elephant Saves the Jungle” is available for purchase in select New Jersey bookstores and toy shops, and at ecotheelephant.com. An e-book is available on Apple Books.