Not too late Changing the climate story from despair to possibility

Review by Booklist Review

Ever-enlightening writer-of-conscience Solnit joined forces with climate activist Thelma Young Lutunatabua in this clarifying and empowering climate anthology. In concert with a remarkable global group of scientists, activists, artists, organizers, and journalists, they redefine the climate movement in a bid to overcome the paralysis of confusion, skepticism, and despair. Without downplaying the urgency of our predicament, they share facts, inspiration, and hope. Edward Carr, a lead author for the 2022 IPCC report, urges us to "think transformationally;" Mary Annaise Heglar calls for genuine "climate commitment;" adrienne maree brown tells us to "unshackle our imaginations." The symbiotic connection between climate action and social justice and the need for collaboration are illuminated by many, including Julian Aguon, Jade Begay, Gloria Walton, and Farhana Sultana as they cast light on the environmental vulnerability, knowledge, and resiliency of BIPOC communities. Paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill looks to past extinctions and asks, "will we be the asteroid or the fern?" This is an emergency kit, Solnit avers, providing voices and visions, information and ideas, and stories cautionary and galvanizing to support our essential participation in humankind's most consequential calling.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

An inspiring guidebook for climate activists. Solnit and Lutunatabua bring together a wide range of like-minded international contributors who provide essays or engage in interviews with the editors. Beginning with a rallying cry, Solnit, who won the Kirkus Prize for her book of essays Call Them by Their True Names, writes that the climate movement has done a lot but "not enough yet." Mary Annaïse Heglar's impassioned "Here's Where You Come In" addresses the need for climate commitment, with each person doing whatever they can. A conversation with oil policy analyst Antonia Jubasz looks at the fossil fuel industry, which "has been suffering death by a thousand cuts for years." In "A Climate Scientist's Take on Hope," Joelle Gergis brings up some stunning statistics--e.g., only 3% of the Earth's land ecosystems are ecologically intact. The takeaway message is direct and urgent: "What we do over this coming decade is literally a matter of life or death." Leah Cardamore Stokes points out that by 2021, "more than 85 percent of the new power built that year can run on renewables." Gloria Walton and Farhana Sultana discuss how our shared solution to climate change must include marginalized communities worldwide. Jade Begay examines the significant climate work being done in Indigenous communities. Renato Redantor Constantino chronicles the important, heated debate among countries at the 2015 Paris Agreement talks. Julian Aguon states a frightening fact: Micronesia "may become uninhabitable as early as 2030" due to rising sea levels. One uplifting fact from "An Extremely Incomplete List of Climate Victories": In 2010, Germany's renewable energy generated more than 100 billion kilowatt-hours, 17% of national supply. Jacquelyn Gill writes that the "Earth has left us a roadmap for how to survive the climate crisis," and Nikayla Jefferson's piece on the 2021 Hunger Strike for Climate Justice is heart-rending. A book that provides some brightness, passion, and intelligence in dark times. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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