There has been much speculation recently that a child born today may witness the extinction of humans—unless we drastically reduce carbon emissions. It is fitting, then, that leading artists including David Hockney, Quentin Blake, Yinka Shonibare and Maggi Hambling have donated works to an auction next month that is the culmination of an environmental arts project involving more than 30,000 children, called It’s Our World. The initiative—which features works by children across the UK who have recorded their local landscape, wildlife or coastline—is supported by The Big Draw, an arts education charity that promotes visual literacy. The collection will be preserved by the British Library as part of the UK Web Archives. “Drawing is an artist's most intimate and direct response to the world. It is his or her hand-writing,” Hambling says. The charity auction, which will raise money for The Big Draw, is due to be held at Christie’s London from 6.30pm on 10 March, followed by an online auction from 10 to 24 March. www.christies.com/itsourworld