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158 reviews for:
Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility
Rebecca Solnit, Thelma Young Lutunatabua
4.11 AVERAGE
158 reviews for:
Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility
Rebecca Solnit, Thelma Young Lutunatabua
4.11 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Hoffnung in Rahmen der Klimakrise ist wichtig, und die Essays inspirieren zum Nachdenken und Hoffen. Häufig waren sie mir aber zu philosophisch und akademisch, um einen direkten Bezug zu meinem Alltag herzustellen.
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
There aren’t many books that everyone should read, but this is one of them.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
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.
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Very interesting, although a bit repetitive at times although, since most of the time, what the authors are repeating is that there is still hope, that's okay.
For a more constructive and less destructive approach to the current climate crisis that doesn't involve ignoring it, though.
Molto interessante, anche se a volte un po' ripetitivo anche se, visto che la maggior parte delle volte, quello che gli autori ripetono é che c'é ancora speranza, va bene lo stesso.
Per un approccio piú costruttivo e meno distruttivo alla crisi climatica in corso che non prevede peró di ignorarla.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
For a more constructive and less destructive approach to the current climate crisis that doesn't involve ignoring it, though.
Molto interessante, anche se a volte un po' ripetitivo anche se, visto che la maggior parte delle volte, quello che gli autori ripetono é che c'é ancora speranza, va bene lo stesso.
Per un approccio piú costruttivo e meno distruttivo alla crisi climatica in corso che non prevede peró di ignorarla.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
it’s never great to have to rush through a book of essays, but i had held this book past its library due date long enough. this was a lovely collection of essays. i especially appreciated the centering of pacific islander voices and the specific reminders of all that has been accomplished and the imagined letters from the future. made me want to become deeply involved in climate work again, which i guess was the whole point.
Not Too Late: Changing the Climate story from Despair to Possibility is a collection of essays. Some were good (I played jargon bingo with 'Decolonizing Climate Coloniality' which had interesting things to say if you could get over the elitism of the language) others, not so. A mixed bag. I enjoyed hearing from Pacific Island activists.
I’m going to pick on From Destruction to Abundance by Leah Cardamore Stokes. It was particularly egregious. She uses the language of propaganda repeating the phrase ‘dirty fossil fuels’ seven times and ‘clean renewable energy/technologies’ twelve times in under 14 minutes. (listened to the audiobook).
‘Right now in the United States alone a billion machines run on dirty fossil fuels, we can and must electrify all these machines, to do that we need to make progress on cleaning up our transportation systems.’ She says.
She attempts to address any opposition by saying, ‘When we hear stories about the harms posed by clean energy technologies we should take a peek 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.’
I’m not on the payroll of the fossil fuel industry, nor are the people whose research informed my stance on ‘clean energy.’ It’s a misnomer, it’s not clean, it’s not ethical, it’s just another way to end the world on a last wave of misplaced belief in growth and consumption. Leah goes on to say, ‘It’s easy to forget how bad oil is because it literally disappears into thin air when we burn it. But the lithium in your car is mined once and hopefully used for decades, that makes it more visible but in the long run, way less harmful.’ Here it is again, the idea that if it is less harmful it is therefore an acceptable strategy to swap out the ‘dirtier’ version for the ‘cleaner’ one. There are only two options offered. It’s called a False Dilemma or False Dichotomy. It’s an argument of either this, or it’s that. No other possibilities are presented.
Leah deals with any potential opposition with, ‘All technologies have impacts, we should not stop asking tough critical questions, but we also know how harmful fossil fuels are. Clean electricity and electrification are the way. It’s a pathway from destruction to abundance. You can still have a car if you want or need one. But you won’t fill it up with oil that props up oil dictators like Putin every time you need to grab some eggs from the store.’ From destruction to abundance – is just another version of dirty versus clean. And it’s simple, no cognitive stress required. Then the oft used enticement of – it’s cheaper too. ‘If you want a car, you can have one.’ She says, no one will take it away or question the legitimacy of it. The enticement here is we can continue consuming without guilt. Nothing need change. And then she drops the world’s No.1 Boogie Man, Putin into it. Increasing the desire to disassociate with anything he’s in to. Then a final propaganda favourite, appealing to the best in you. You are important, you matter, doing this is doing good, not just for yourself but for others.
‘Thinking about the 1 billion machines we must electrify in America alone is overwhelming, but it is also meaningful and motivating. Because with fewer than one billion Americans every person has something they can do. Ultimately purpose gives us the higher rewards in life. To know that with our actions we are helping others both those seen and unseen for generations to come. This is the deepest solace.’
I have no doubt that Leah Cardamore Stokes is a good woman who wants the best for the world and would be horrified to read her well-intentioned argument for renewables has been identified as propaganda. But it is. And it’s dangerous. And it is everywhere. The idea that we can just swap out a billion fossil-fueled machines in the US to electric is a catastrophic amount of energy, and resources. It’s the contamination of vast amounts of potable water and soil (I hesitate to say ‘clean’). Displacing people and destroying ecosystems. We even have our eyes on the sea floor as an easily accessible source of minerals that are becoming increasingly difficult to find on land. Mining the sea floor should be seen for what it is, an act of desperation – quite possibly a final one. Leah addresses these unnamed issues with flippant reassurances, ‘as problems crop up we will address them.’ And a shout out for further unknown innovations. Her pro-renewables are the answer we just need to do it faster was repeated throughout the book.
It sucks that we are where we are, but magical thinking and another wave of propaganda, no matter how well-intentioned, will end us.
I’m going to pick on From Destruction to Abundance by Leah Cardamore Stokes. It was particularly egregious. She uses the language of propaganda repeating the phrase ‘dirty fossil fuels’ seven times and ‘clean renewable energy/technologies’ twelve times in under 14 minutes. (listened to the audiobook).
‘Right now in the United States alone a billion machines run on dirty fossil fuels, we can and must electrify all these machines, to do that we need to make progress on cleaning up our transportation systems.’ She says.
She attempts to address any opposition by saying, ‘When we hear stories about the harms posed by clean energy technologies we should take a peek 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.’
I’m not on the payroll of the fossil fuel industry, nor are the people whose research informed my stance on ‘clean energy.’ It’s a misnomer, it’s not clean, it’s not ethical, it’s just another way to end the world on a last wave of misplaced belief in growth and consumption. Leah goes on to say, ‘It’s easy to forget how bad oil is because it literally disappears into thin air when we burn it. But the lithium in your car is mined once and hopefully used for decades, that makes it more visible but in the long run, way less harmful.’ Here it is again, the idea that if it is less harmful it is therefore an acceptable strategy to swap out the ‘dirtier’ version for the ‘cleaner’ one. There are only two options offered. It’s called a False Dilemma or False Dichotomy. It’s an argument of either this, or it’s that. No other possibilities are presented.
Leah deals with any potential opposition with, ‘All technologies have impacts, we should not stop asking tough critical questions, but we also know how harmful fossil fuels are. Clean electricity and electrification are the way. It’s a pathway from destruction to abundance. You can still have a car if you want or need one. But you won’t fill it up with oil that props up oil dictators like Putin every time you need to grab some eggs from the store.’ From destruction to abundance – is just another version of dirty versus clean. And it’s simple, no cognitive stress required. Then the oft used enticement of – it’s cheaper too. ‘If you want a car, you can have one.’ She says, no one will take it away or question the legitimacy of it. The enticement here is we can continue consuming without guilt. Nothing need change. And then she drops the world’s No.1 Boogie Man, Putin into it. Increasing the desire to disassociate with anything he’s in to. Then a final propaganda favourite, appealing to the best in you. You are important, you matter, doing this is doing good, not just for yourself but for others.
‘Thinking about the 1 billion machines we must electrify in America alone is overwhelming, but it is also meaningful and motivating. Because with fewer than one billion Americans every person has something they can do. Ultimately purpose gives us the higher rewards in life. To know that with our actions we are helping others both those seen and unseen for generations to come. This is the deepest solace.’
I have no doubt that Leah Cardamore Stokes is a good woman who wants the best for the world and would be horrified to read her well-intentioned argument for renewables has been identified as propaganda. But it is. And it’s dangerous. And it is everywhere. The idea that we can just swap out a billion fossil-fueled machines in the US to electric is a catastrophic amount of energy, and resources. It’s the contamination of vast amounts of potable water and soil (I hesitate to say ‘clean’). Displacing people and destroying ecosystems. We even have our eyes on the sea floor as an easily accessible source of minerals that are becoming increasingly difficult to find on land. Mining the sea floor should be seen for what it is, an act of desperation – quite possibly a final one. Leah addresses these unnamed issues with flippant reassurances, ‘as problems crop up we will address them.’ And a shout out for further unknown innovations. Her pro-renewables are the answer we just need to do it faster was repeated throughout the book.
It sucks that we are where we are, but magical thinking and another wave of propaganda, no matter how well-intentioned, will end us.