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Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility
An energizing case for hope about the climate comes from Rebecca Solnit, called the voice of the resistance by the New York Times, and climate activist Thelma Young Lutunatabua, along with a chorus of voices calling on us to rise to the moment.
Not Too Late is the book for anyone who is despondent, defeatist, or unsure about climate change and seeking answers. As the contributors to this volume make clear, the future will be decided by whether we act in the present--and we must act to counter institutional inertia, fossil fuel interests, and political obduracy.
These dispatches from the climate movement around the world feature the voices of organizers like Guam-based lawyer and writer Julian Aguon; climate scientists like Dr. Jacquelyn Gill and Dr. Edward Carr; poets like Marshall Islands activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijner; and longtime organizers like The Tyranny of Oil author Antonia Juhasz.
Guided by Rebecca Solnit's typical clear-eyed wisdom and enriched by photographs and quotes, Not Too Late leads readers from discouragement to possibilities, from climate despair to climate hope.
Not Too Late is the book for anyone who is despondent, defeatist, or unsure about climate change and seeking answers. As the contributors to this volume make clear, the future will be decided by whether we act in the present--and we must act to counter institutional inertia, fossil fuel interests, and political obduracy.
These dispatches from the climate movement around the world feature the voices of organizers like Guam-based lawyer and writer Julian Aguon; climate scientists like Dr. Jacquelyn Gill and Dr. Edward Carr; poets like Marshall Islands activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijner; and longtime organizers like The Tyranny of Oil author Antonia Juhasz.
Guided by Rebecca Solnit's typical clear-eyed wisdom and enriched by photographs and quotes, Not Too Late leads readers from discouragement to possibilities, from climate despair to climate hope.
200 pages, Paperback
First published April 4, 2023
275 people are currently reading
7497 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Solnit
132 books7,718 followersWriter, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster, including Call Them By Their True Names (Winner of the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction), Cinderella Liberator, Men Explain Things to Me, The Mother of All Questions, and Hope in the Dark, and co-creator of the City of Women map, all published by Haymarket Books; a trilogy of atlases of American cities, The Faraway Nearby, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Wanderlust: A History of Walking, and River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West (for which she received a Guggenheim, the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism, and the Lannan Literary Award). Her forthcoming memoir, Recollections of My Nonexistence, is scheduled to release in March, 2020. A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she is a columnist at the Guardian and a regular contributor to Literary Hub.
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April 23, 2024
‘Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’
- James Baldwin
It is distressing to hear the constant warnings of scientists speaking on the imminent danger of climate crisis, like a red alert going off in a spaceship, loud and flashing as the crew scrambles for evasive maneuvers. Except often it feels like that crew is sitting there helping the danger instead of pulling off some heroic Han Solo moves to save the ship. That ship is our Earth, and for decades if feels like the crew, us, have been sitting there like the ‘this is fine’ meme of the dog drinking coffee in a burning house while fossil fuel and securities companies have thrown colossal amounts of money into organizations doing everything from distractionary tactics to put the blame on individuals (BP invented the “carbon footprint” for instance) in order to avoid systemic changes, to outright denying the issue exists. Not Too Late, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua offer a different perspective: while there is much work to be done, while the danger is not only coming but already here, climate activists have made positive progress and if we still have hope we can accomplish more. Because we have to or we face a very different future where many will not survive. Collecting essays and interviews from climate activists around the world, this is an empowering and passionate plea for organizing and holding fast to hope while also being a very educational book on the subject of the climate crisis. Dr Jacquelyn Gill asks us to consider ‘What could we accomplish if we stood together and faced the danger?’ and Mary Annaïse Heglar reminds us that this requires people working together when she asks ‘what if your power in this fight lies not in what you can do as an individual but in your ability to be part of a collective?’ This is a wonderful collection that provides hope in the darkness and is accessible to newcomers to the struggle—as gathering more people to climate activism is essential to its success—while being thought provoking, insightful and educational even to those already invested in the crisis.
‘What gives me hope is that human history is full of examples of people across the ages who have risen to face the great challenges of their time and have succeeded. Victory is not the arrival in some promised land; it is the series of imperfect victories along the way that edge us closer to building the critical mass that eventually shifts the status quo.’
- Dr Joëlle Gergis
I’ve always quite enjoyed Rebecca Solnit for approaching rather uncomfortable and dark—but necessary and often urgent—topics in a way that is inspiring and hopeful. She often passes your through the dread but points to a light at the end of the tunnel and reminds you getting there is hopefully possible. Even her discussions on what ‘hope’ means is rather lovely:
But we can’t just get caught up in hope, either, as every person in this book reminds us that this is a lot of work, but work that it is imperative we accomplish. ‘This is a message of catastrophe, but it does demand we think transformationally’ Edward R. Carr insists, giving hope that ‘a climate-resilient future is still possible.’ Lutunatabua agrees, adding ‘ The question shouldn't be Will my actions be enough? but Will our actions be enough? This is a communal quest in which everyone can bring their talents…’ Throughout this collection, the theme of community and organizing to work together rings out the loudest. We can’t do this alone, they insist, but offer hope when we work together.
Not Too Late collects organizers from all over the world to present their perspectives, such as the Pacific Climate Warriors who remind us to approach the situation with sensitivity to race and culture as well. ‘We were recipients of a white savior narrative that really painted us as folks who really couldn’t tap into our own agency or…inventiveness,’ Fenton Lutunatabua says in an interview with Thelma. It is a reminder how quickly intentions to help can come across in ‘a very condescending way.’ For the 2020 US election I worked as the campaign finance officer for a US House of Representatives campaign (we did not win) and was only one of two staffers for the beginning when we were basically at the drawing board for our platform along with a group we hired that had worked on several West Michigan campaigns. Our candidate was very versed in climate crisis issues and we were frustrated when advised against making that a major platform, showing us data that while climate issues had been on the rise as an “important” issue for voters, the previous election showed a sudden decline and former candidates saying that platform issue hurt them. The theory was that between 2016 and 2018, climate issues were often discussed by a wonderfully inclusive group with many people of color, women and younger people being the forefront and in rural West Michigan, white voters (particularly men) suddenly grew disinterested or distrustful over the issues (we still ran with climate issues on the platform, but still lost). This is a classic example of misogynoir at work. Though don’t be discouraged, as Solnit cites a study showing that while in the US people estimate only 37-43% of people ‘support major climate change mitigation policies,’ actually a 66-80% of people do. PEW Research center also tracks that this is increasing, though there are party line issues:
While the aforementioned issue showed how racism, misogyny and agesim can be an issue involved in climate activism it also demonstrates how, as several chapters here mention, fighting against climate crisis is so intertwined with other liberation or equity movements. As author Adrienne Maree Brown in an interview, the growth in learning and fighting for climate issues in the US and UK has appeared to be adjacent to the #MeToo movement, prison abolition, BLM as people are seeing how structural and systemic oppressions are linked. Also that these systems uphold the same powerful people who perpetrate the various crises. It makes some people dismiss climate activism as just something ‘radical leftists’ support. In her book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, journalist Naomi Klein discusses how many fear climate activism as ‘a trojan horse for socialism’ (a huge issues also discussed in essays on the New Green Deal in her essay collection On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal) and, as you may have guessed from the title, admits that without major change in economic policies there is no hope for a livable future on Earth. She details how oil or securities companies have help fund the climate-denier movements (weapons manufacturers, she argues, stand to gain in a world where chaos ensues as mass migrations and other disasters occur due to climate disasters) and how this has also created a political divide hindering progress. This is a concern shared by Dr Leah Cardamore Stokes in her chapter:
This is furthered by Professor Farhana Sultana who states that ‘Colonialism haunts the past, present, and future through climate,’ arguing that climate activism must also focus on global equity and be sensitive to cultural and racial issues towards ‘reparative climate equity.’ The idea that climate activism also means creating a better world overall on a variety of issues is rather reassuring.
‘ The question shouldn't be Will my actions be enough? but Will our actions be enough? This is a communal quest in which everyone can bring their talents…’
Despite a lot of hard truths and discouragement, this book is endlessly optimistic and rather hopeful to read. There is a chapter detailing the chronology of successes in climate movements, such as the Paris Climate Treaty or the stoppage of oil pipelines by water defenders. This book also reminds you that you are not alone in your worries, that there are many opportunities to help (it gives a great resource list for further reading or joining the fight) and reminds us that the future is still uncertain. Sure, it is very likely that there will be more climate disasters and things will in fact get bad, but we also have the opportunity to mitigate disaster and fight against total destruction. For those looking to learn more, to find a way to move forward or simply need some hope in the darkness, Not Too Late is a lovely collection with a lot of brilliant minds.
4/5
‘Change happens gradually, then suddenly. It’s never too late to be part of the social movement that will help heal our world.’
- James Baldwin
It is distressing to hear the constant warnings of scientists speaking on the imminent danger of climate crisis, like a red alert going off in a spaceship, loud and flashing as the crew scrambles for evasive maneuvers. Except often it feels like that crew is sitting there helping the danger instead of pulling off some heroic Han Solo moves to save the ship. That ship is our Earth, and for decades if feels like the crew, us, have been sitting there like the ‘this is fine’ meme of the dog drinking coffee in a burning house while fossil fuel and securities companies have thrown colossal amounts of money into organizations doing everything from distractionary tactics to put the blame on individuals (BP invented the “carbon footprint” for instance) in order to avoid systemic changes, to outright denying the issue exists. Not Too Late, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua offer a different perspective: while there is much work to be done, while the danger is not only coming but already here, climate activists have made positive progress and if we still have hope we can accomplish more. Because we have to or we face a very different future where many will not survive. Collecting essays and interviews from climate activists around the world, this is an empowering and passionate plea for organizing and holding fast to hope while also being a very educational book on the subject of the climate crisis. Dr Jacquelyn Gill asks us to consider ‘What could we accomplish if we stood together and faced the danger?’ and Mary Annaïse Heglar reminds us that this requires people working together when she asks ‘what if your power in this fight lies not in what you can do as an individual but in your ability to be part of a collective?’ This is a wonderful collection that provides hope in the darkness and is accessible to newcomers to the struggle—as gathering more people to climate activism is essential to its success—while being thought provoking, insightful and educational even to those already invested in the crisis.
‘What gives me hope is that human history is full of examples of people across the ages who have risen to face the great challenges of their time and have succeeded. Victory is not the arrival in some promised land; it is the series of imperfect victories along the way that edge us closer to building the critical mass that eventually shifts the status quo.’
- Dr Joëlle Gergis
I’ve always quite enjoyed Rebecca Solnit for approaching rather uncomfortable and dark—but necessary and often urgent—topics in a way that is inspiring and hopeful. She often passes your through the dread but points to a light at the end of the tunnel and reminds you getting there is hopefully possible. Even her discussions on what ‘hope’ means is rather lovely:
’ To hope is to accept despair as an emotion but not as an analysis. To recognize that what is unlikely is possible, just as what is likely is not inevitable. To understand that difficult is not the same as impossible. To plan and to accept that the unexpected often disrupts plans--for the better and for the worse. To know the powerful have their weaknesses, and we who are supposed to be weak have great power together, power to change the world, have done so before and will again. To know that the future will be what we make of it in the present. To know that joy can appear in the midst of crisis, and that a crisis is a crossroads.’
But we can’t just get caught up in hope, either, as every person in this book reminds us that this is a lot of work, but work that it is imperative we accomplish. ‘This is a message of catastrophe, but it does demand we think transformationally’ Edward R. Carr insists, giving hope that ‘a climate-resilient future is still possible.’ Lutunatabua agrees, adding ‘ The question shouldn't be Will my actions be enough? but Will our actions be enough? This is a communal quest in which everyone can bring their talents…’ Throughout this collection, the theme of community and organizing to work together rings out the loudest. We can’t do this alone, they insist, but offer hope when we work together.
Not Too Late collects organizers from all over the world to present their perspectives, such as the Pacific Climate Warriors who remind us to approach the situation with sensitivity to race and culture as well. ‘We were recipients of a white savior narrative that really painted us as folks who really couldn’t tap into our own agency or…inventiveness,’ Fenton Lutunatabua says in an interview with Thelma. It is a reminder how quickly intentions to help can come across in ‘a very condescending way.’ For the 2020 US election I worked as the campaign finance officer for a US House of Representatives campaign (we did not win) and was only one of two staffers for the beginning when we were basically at the drawing board for our platform along with a group we hired that had worked on several West Michigan campaigns. Our candidate was very versed in climate crisis issues and we were frustrated when advised against making that a major platform, showing us data that while climate issues had been on the rise as an “important” issue for voters, the previous election showed a sudden decline and former candidates saying that platform issue hurt them. The theory was that between 2016 and 2018, climate issues were often discussed by a wonderfully inclusive group with many people of color, women and younger people being the forefront and in rural West Michigan, white voters (particularly men) suddenly grew disinterested or distrustful over the issues (we still ran with climate issues on the platform, but still lost). This is a classic example of misogynoir at work. Though don’t be discouraged, as Solnit cites a study showing that while in the US people estimate only 37-43% of people ‘support major climate change mitigation policies,’ actually a 66-80% of people do. PEW Research center also tracks that this is increasing, though there are party line issues:
While the aforementioned issue showed how racism, misogyny and agesim can be an issue involved in climate activism it also demonstrates how, as several chapters here mention, fighting against climate crisis is so intertwined with other liberation or equity movements. As author Adrienne Maree Brown in an interview, the growth in learning and fighting for climate issues in the US and UK has appeared to be adjacent to the #MeToo movement, prison abolition, BLM as people are seeing how structural and systemic oppressions are linked. Also that these systems uphold the same powerful people who perpetrate the various crises. It makes some people dismiss climate activism as just something ‘radical leftists’ support. In her book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, journalist Naomi Klein discusses how many fear climate activism as ‘a trojan horse for socialism’ (a huge issues also discussed in essays on the New Green Deal in her essay collection On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal) and, as you may have guessed from the title, admits that without major change in economic policies there is no hope for a livable future on Earth. She details how oil or securities companies have help fund the climate-denier movements (weapons manufacturers, she argues, stand to gain in a world where chaos ensues as mass migrations and other disasters occur due to climate disasters) and how this has also created a political divide hindering progress. This is a concern shared by Dr Leah Cardamore Stokes in her chapter:
‘When denial became indefensible, the fossil fuel industry started singing a new song: the crisis can’t be solved. Delay paid them in cash. When we hear stories about the harms posed by clean energy technologies, we should take a beat and ask: who profits from telling this story? Too often, the fossil fuel industry is seeding propaganda to make us feel hopeless and defeated. If we delay, they profit.’
This is furthered by Professor Farhana Sultana who states that ‘Colonialism haunts the past, present, and future through climate,’ arguing that climate activism must also focus on global equity and be sensitive to cultural and racial issues towards ‘reparative climate equity.’ The idea that climate activism also means creating a better world overall on a variety of issues is rather reassuring.
‘ The question shouldn't be Will my actions be enough? but Will our actions be enough? This is a communal quest in which everyone can bring their talents…’
Despite a lot of hard truths and discouragement, this book is endlessly optimistic and rather hopeful to read. There is a chapter detailing the chronology of successes in climate movements, such as the Paris Climate Treaty or the stoppage of oil pipelines by water defenders. This book also reminds you that you are not alone in your worries, that there are many opportunities to help (it gives a great resource list for further reading or joining the fight) and reminds us that the future is still uncertain. Sure, it is very likely that there will be more climate disasters and things will in fact get bad, but we also have the opportunity to mitigate disaster and fight against total destruction. For those looking to learn more, to find a way to move forward or simply need some hope in the darkness, Not Too Late is a lovely collection with a lot of brilliant minds.
4/5
‘Change happens gradually, then suddenly. It’s never too late to be part of the social movement that will help heal our world.’
May 29, 2023
The central message of this collection of essays is to turn away from either empty optimism or the passivity of despair about the climate crisis, and to know that it is possible to turn things around. I found this welcome and helpful, although many of the individual essays are quite general and repetitive exhortations on the same theme. I particularly liked a trio of essays by Rebecca Solnit, “Difficult Is Not the Same as Impossible,” “Looking Forward from the Past: 2023 from 1973,” and “Packing (and Unpacking) for an Emergency.” As well, “The Asteroid and the Fern” by paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill and “To Hell with Drowning” by Julian Aguon about Pacific Islanders’ fight for survival were very thought-provoking
April 24, 2023
I’ve read many climate books and this collection is very good.
Favorite essay: What to Do When the World is Ending by Yotam Marom
Favorite essay: What to Do When the World is Ending by Yotam Marom
May 31, 2024
What a beautiful, affirming, thought-provoking, inspirational, warm, loving, and ... comforting little collection of writings and ideas and mantras and wishes.
It's no surprise that Solnit's writing is a pleasure to read, but she's also done a wonderful job assembling a diverse, informed, and interesting collection of voices into a resonant choir as part of this initiative.
No, the book isn't for everyone, and one could easily write a lengthy essay about all of the things the book isn't. But who cares? To my mind, it's very much fit for purpose.
And, no, I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a climate change denier. (OK, for them, it's tough to beat Cook's Cranky Uncle, but that's another story altogether. ) And, for very different reasons, I don't think I'd suggest it to folks who are early in their climate change discovery or advocacy journey either.
As for me, I'm glad I (belatedly) found it after I'd already consumed a shelf full of related readings including, Johnson & Wilkinson's sublime anthology, All We Can Save, and, more recently, Hines' At Work in the Ruins, Manns' Our Fragile Moment, and Boyd's I Want A Better Catastrophe. For me it was the right book at the right time.
It's no surprise that Solnit's writing is a pleasure to read, but she's also done a wonderful job assembling a diverse, informed, and interesting collection of voices into a resonant choir as part of this initiative.
No, the book isn't for everyone, and one could easily write a lengthy essay about all of the things the book isn't. But who cares? To my mind, it's very much fit for purpose.
And, no, I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a climate change denier. (OK, for them, it's tough to beat Cook's Cranky Uncle, but that's another story altogether. ) And, for very different reasons, I don't think I'd suggest it to folks who are early in their climate change discovery or advocacy journey either.
As for me, I'm glad I (belatedly) found it after I'd already consumed a shelf full of related readings including, Johnson & Wilkinson's sublime anthology, All We Can Save, and, more recently, Hines' At Work in the Ruins, Manns' Our Fragile Moment, and Boyd's I Want A Better Catastrophe. For me it was the right book at the right time.
April 6, 2023
I couldn't put this book down. My child has a fever and I was reading in every spare moment all day. Holding her close while I read was a constant reminder of one reason why I care so much about the climate. Love like that—of family, animals, homelands, other people—motivates so much of the writing in this beautiful book. I was often holding back tears, tetering between the difficult truths and the reasons for hope that the authors bring to the text. Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua have done a wonderful job organizing chapters around themes and making sure the collection balances perspectives from around the globe, emphasizing all around that we are in it together. I am sure I will reread parts of this book more than once.
May 21, 2023
This was a mixed bag for me. I think it would be good for someone brand new to reading about the climate crisis who has reached the pessimistic stage. More seasoned readers will find it fairly surface-level.
Unfortunately, this book can be a bit uneven. Some of the essays were merely repeating information in others, which I realize can be a challenge when you work with multiple contributors. I’m not sure of a way around that, but it did make for some essays that I skimmed through instead of reading in detail. Additionally, while I enjoyed the portions of the book that reiterated progress that had been made and how it had been made, some of it felt a little bit self congratulatory given the context of how we actually aren’t on track to meet some goals that were set in the rest of the book. I felt the same about the multiple “letters from the future” pieces. Either way not bad and glad I read it, just not what I was hoping for.
Unfortunately, this book can be a bit uneven. Some of the essays were merely repeating information in others, which I realize can be a challenge when you work with multiple contributors. I’m not sure of a way around that, but it did make for some essays that I skimmed through instead of reading in detail. Additionally, while I enjoyed the portions of the book that reiterated progress that had been made and how it had been made, some of it felt a little bit self congratulatory given the context of how we actually aren’t on track to meet some goals that were set in the rest of the book. I felt the same about the multiple “letters from the future” pieces. Either way not bad and glad I read it, just not what I was hoping for.
December 30, 2022
Thank you to Haymarket Books for the e-ARC. Rebecca Solnit has been a major influence in my life, which is why I picked this book up. She, and the other contributors to this book, have created a beautiful, timely, and inspiring collection of essays and conversations. Acknowledging climate grief, fury, and hope is what so many of us need.
Cannot wait to have a physical copy to transfer all of my highlights and notes to.
Cannot wait to have a physical copy to transfer all of my highlights and notes to.
May 19, 2024
tell me something i don’t know… sort of lacking in substance…. very much me to we
“the asteroid and the fern” by the paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill was very good
“the asteroid and the fern” by the paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill was very good
January 2, 2024
We need stories to remind us why hope is complicated but necessary, because the opposite mode is to live neat lives powered by a self-affirming wireless fidelity to all-terrain gloom, where all signs point to defeat and despair waits at every turn. To hope is to embrace uncertainty, knowing the bad guys have not won yet.--Renato Redentor Constantine, "How the Ants Moved the Elephants in Paris"
This is a book of little essays from varied voices about actions they are taking, and victories they are winning, against the climate change catastrophe. They are not in denial about how bad things are, but they are not in despair, and they hope that you too will work to make things less bad than they would be without you.
June 21, 2023
Must read if you want to understand that and why we have to keep being hopeful about solutions to the climate crisis. And spoiler: the time to act is now!
May 1, 2024
Highly recommend for anyone looking for a push out of their passive climate despair and into the practice and actions of hope!!
August 30, 2023
Stories of hope (not optimism), determination and inspiration from across the climate and activism landscape. Wonderful and nurturing.
November 2, 2023
This should be required reading in all high schools. An incredible book that changes the narrative of the climate crisis from fatalism to hope and inspiration for change. Everyone needs to read this.
March 17, 2024
Partly read this while Elle Woods-ing it on an elliptical, and finished reading it while drinking excellent hot chocolate at Juliette et Chocolat in Montréal. While reading this, I was also at a comparative literature conference where I was part of a session about literary criticism as environmental thinking. I brought this book along as my downtime reading so that I can be immersed in climate thinking while listening to the session papers.
I really appreciated the way that this book covers the full breadth of emotions one experiences while engaging with climate issues. Each essay succinctly captures a particular moment where mass awareness experiences some growing pains. As more people are brought into the movement, it feels like one must continuously share the same information, the same talking points, the same pep talks, and sometimes that can hide the changes that have been made, and that are continuing to be made. The book, and the website and underlying movement that motivated it, fulfills the purpose of being something that is "like a kit for you to carry with you," as Rebecca Solnit says in her ending essay.
What also felt inspiring to me were some of the essays in the section, "The Future We Want," particularly "Looking Back from the Future: 2023 from 2073" by Denali Sai Nalamalapu. In my opinion, this is a kind of hybrid essay of the kind I've rarely seen: speculative creative nonfiction that gives the reader a solid future to imagine that is neither fancifully utopian nor bleakly cynical. It makes me want to try to write something like this, too, and makes me want to see more speculative creative nonfiction of the near future.
I hesitated between giving this book 4 or 5 stars; my only real critique is that I wish some of the pieces were longer.
I really appreciated the way that this book covers the full breadth of emotions one experiences while engaging with climate issues. Each essay succinctly captures a particular moment where mass awareness experiences some growing pains. As more people are brought into the movement, it feels like one must continuously share the same information, the same talking points, the same pep talks, and sometimes that can hide the changes that have been made, and that are continuing to be made. The book, and the website and underlying movement that motivated it, fulfills the purpose of being something that is "like a kit for you to carry with you," as Rebecca Solnit says in her ending essay.
What also felt inspiring to me were some of the essays in the section, "The Future We Want," particularly "Looking Back from the Future: 2023 from 2073" by Denali Sai Nalamalapu. In my opinion, this is a kind of hybrid essay of the kind I've rarely seen: speculative creative nonfiction that gives the reader a solid future to imagine that is neither fancifully utopian nor bleakly cynical. It makes me want to try to write something like this, too, and makes me want to see more speculative creative nonfiction of the near future.
I hesitated between giving this book 4 or 5 stars; my only real critique is that I wish some of the pieces were longer.
December 15, 2024
What a ding dang disappointingly drab little book.
February 21, 2025
This is an incredible book, though it is very difficult to read now, in February 2025.
August 26, 2023
I don’t know who this book is for, but it’s not for me.
January 10, 2025
4.5 - overall i rly loved this and i esp appreciate the emphasis on decolonization frameworks and partial progress as progress!
(only not a perf rating bc some of the essays rubbed me the wrong way but will prob elaborate on that later)
(only not a perf rating bc some of the essays rubbed me the wrong way but will prob elaborate on that later)
December 6, 2023
I strongly encourage every person to read this, and I don't say that often
January 4, 2025
audiobook
i am not informed about climate justice. it is not one of my topics, i have little interest in it. theres a few reasons for it, a big portion is simply because my parents do not believe in climate change. growing up, i learned that climate change is entirely propaganda. people lied about the numbers, they draw causation when there was only correlation, and it's a scheme created to instill fear in the population—in me.
obviously, i no longer have this belief. however, even as i realized (very slowly) that climate change was real and heavily influenced by humans, i still struggled to get into it as a movement. everywhere i looked, it was more doom. there's constant deadlines, "twenty years until the world is uninhabitable!" and "this isn't enough!". it turned me away from the topic. i thought it was better to live in ignorance than with that pain; it's better to acknowledge climate change without putting your foot in. i told myself that my bare minimum knowledge was a good amount. i can't exist with constant doomsday-ing, i'm too mentally ill for it.
then, this book. a counter to doomsday thinking. it is not blind optimism, it does not promise everything will be okay. but it says that the future of horror that climate activists talk about is not inevitable. it is still possible to change and lots of people are working towards that change. it offers stories of how we have changed: what legislation has passed (and what hasn't), what groups have formed, what people have fought for. it does not glaze over what we've lost, and what we're losing. but it offers stories of a possible future, why we should care. it doesn't have to be like this.
it is a call to action, but not through fear and terror. rather, through love, community, and hope.
first read of 2025 and i highly recommend. you don't have to know anything about climate justice, i didn't. but if you need a little hope, this book is for you.
i am not informed about climate justice. it is not one of my topics, i have little interest in it. theres a few reasons for it, a big portion is simply because my parents do not believe in climate change. growing up, i learned that climate change is entirely propaganda. people lied about the numbers, they draw causation when there was only correlation, and it's a scheme created to instill fear in the population—in me.
obviously, i no longer have this belief. however, even as i realized (very slowly) that climate change was real and heavily influenced by humans, i still struggled to get into it as a movement. everywhere i looked, it was more doom. there's constant deadlines, "twenty years until the world is uninhabitable!" and "this isn't enough!". it turned me away from the topic. i thought it was better to live in ignorance than with that pain; it's better to acknowledge climate change without putting your foot in. i told myself that my bare minimum knowledge was a good amount. i can't exist with constant doomsday-ing, i'm too mentally ill for it.
then, this book. a counter to doomsday thinking. it is not blind optimism, it does not promise everything will be okay. but it says that the future of horror that climate activists talk about is not inevitable. it is still possible to change and lots of people are working towards that change. it offers stories of how we have changed: what legislation has passed (and what hasn't), what groups have formed, what people have fought for. it does not glaze over what we've lost, and what we're losing. but it offers stories of a possible future, why we should care. it doesn't have to be like this.
it is a call to action, but not through fear and terror. rather, through love, community, and hope.
first read of 2025 and i highly recommend. you don't have to know anything about climate justice, i didn't. but if you need a little hope, this book is for you.
November 4, 2023
For a book seeking to change my feelings about climate change from "despair to possibility" the collection had plenty about what we need to (or future -fantasy about what we have already done by now, in order to make a better future)- which felt painfully out of place since the book came out this year and we failed to do these things/meet these crucial climate goals. I can see the theme that the book is going for but I can't feel it from these essays- from a 12 day hunger strike that was deemed "successful" but accomplished none of its goals, to the overarching advice that seems to be repeated, it's not too much, all we have to do is organize as group, raise up to form more power than those in charge (with the power and money), and create change.
I stopped this book halfway through (for a couple months!) because I was experiencing so much climate angst, (the opposite of what I hoped this book would do). Now that I'm finished, I feel no more empowered- the focused look at how big the systems are in place that are harming us, it left me feeling powerless. Yes, we can help each other, we can work together, but if we KNOW that this will take 100% commitment of all nations, most importantly the biggest polluters, and we know we don't have this- well its not a very hopeful outlook.
I stopped this book halfway through (for a couple months!) because I was experiencing so much climate angst, (the opposite of what I hoped this book would do). Now that I'm finished, I feel no more empowered- the focused look at how big the systems are in place that are harming us, it left me feeling powerless. Yes, we can help each other, we can work together, but if we KNOW that this will take 100% commitment of all nations, most importantly the biggest polluters, and we know we don't have this- well its not a very hopeful outlook.
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January 22, 2024“Some of us receive the precious opportunity in this time to use the struggles that we are experiencing to dedicating ourselves to fostering sanity, care, and justice in the world. We have heeded the call to abandon futility and meet our moral anguish, our grief, and our fear with openness and curiosity. We have also allowed ourselves to be worked by the power of adversity in order to meet the unfolding and uncertain present with inquiry, hope, awe, and loving action.
And if we can’t, then we do not turn away from that. Sometimes we have to pause, not ready to take the next step. Sometimes we make unfortunate mistakes and withdraw from the world in shame. Sometimes we falter in the midst. Sometimes we fall apart and stay that way for a long time. And sometimes we need to step away, to retreat, to take the backward step. It is simply not our time to step forward. But know that we, too, are being worked. And others are being worked in their own way. It is not to add the weight of judgement onto the burden that we are already carrying. It is not to turn away from our current experience, even if our response does not meet our so-called standards. It is rather to meet it with, ‘Hello old friend, I know you.’”
– Roshi Joan Halifax, Meeting the More and the Marrow
And if we can’t, then we do not turn away from that. Sometimes we have to pause, not ready to take the next step. Sometimes we make unfortunate mistakes and withdraw from the world in shame. Sometimes we falter in the midst. Sometimes we fall apart and stay that way for a long time. And sometimes we need to step away, to retreat, to take the backward step. It is simply not our time to step forward. But know that we, too, are being worked. And others are being worked in their own way. It is not to add the weight of judgement onto the burden that we are already carrying. It is not to turn away from our current experience, even if our response does not meet our so-called standards. It is rather to meet it with, ‘Hello old friend, I know you.’”
– Roshi Joan Halifax, Meeting the More and the Marrow
August 19, 2023
I really loved this book. In the middle of another summer of record breaking heat and witnessing the heartbreaking effects of climate change, I really needed some climate hope. I appreciate that the book outright names capitalism and white supremacy as roots of the problem. I like that each chapter is by a different author. It was very cool to learn more about the history of the climate movement. (One of my favorites was learning that the agreed-upon global limit for temperature rise was lowered from 2C to 1.5C due to the work of people from climate vulnerable nations.) It acknowledges the burnout, grief, anger, and sadness that comes along with activism but also talks about the importance of watching sunsets and caring for your friends and just deeply loving this world and remembering what we are fighting for.
June 18, 2024
This book tries to meet everyone where they are at, so the first 50 pages I could have done without and lacked nuance. After that I learned so much! It made me want to be a better storyteller, and reaffirmed my belief that hope is a choice and cynicism is the easy way out. I really liked the stories of Pacific Islanders at COP and the story from 2073 looking back to 2023 (I give that story 5 stars)
January 23, 2025
I wasn’t convinced by this book at the beginning. Maybe because I am a climate scientist, some of the chapters just felt like they weren’t for me. I already knew the points they were trying to make and just didn’t feel that inspired by it. But my opinion changed once I read more of the essays by people who are activists or politicians in the fight against climate change. I love the way they framed what hope was and a lot of the essays really helped me find what will keep me going down this road.
January 22, 2024
Interesting collection of short essays and interviews. Most give a different view on climate change/crisis/breakdown/catastrophe issues ... with quite a few focussing on people impacted on the low-lying island and coastal regions that are reaping the 'rewards' of northern hemisphere driven climate change.
May 11, 2025
A resounding 5* for this collection that achieved what I didn’t believe was possible- giving me hope that the climate crisis can be overcome by community and connection- good folk working together to make us realise that climate action does not mean living with less, other than living with less pollution, less environmental damage, less inequality and less accumulation of “stuff”. I loved the fact that a quote from Robin Wall Kimmerer concluded Rebecca Solnit’s closing essay. Her recent offering, The Serviceberry should be compulsory reading for all the politicians entrusted by us to secure a future of our planet.
September 23, 2023
Good things: one or two of the essays were gorgeous; excellent articulation of hope vs. optimism / hope as a muscle / why it's so important to work to make change rather than simply give up.
Bad things: essays didn't fit together well; several were making arguments that would take a whole book to truly understand, much less 3 pages (and which seriously oversimplified climate issues); several essays have no chance to speaking to people who don't already completely agree with the authors (although it did seem the book's audience is climate activists).
Bad things: essays didn't fit together well; several were making arguments that would take a whole book to truly understand, much less 3 pages (and which seriously oversimplified climate issues); several essays have no chance to speaking to people who don't already completely agree with the authors (although it did seem the book's audience is climate activists).
January 12, 2024
A great introduction to the climate movement and the challenges we’re facing around the world due to the climate crisis. Heavy material but handled well, a hopeful message and definitely a good book to read if you’re feeling overwhelmed and dejected about the future.
March 3, 2025
Obviously as this is an essay collection, the book felt somewhat piecemeal— however I still think it has some strong points and information regarding climate activism. I was particularly interested in the later sections that focused on individualism as a mechanism of climate issues.
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