We’re All Climate Hypocrites Now , livre ebook

Praise for We re All Climate Hypocrites Now
A useful - and sprightly! - effort to get at the choice between individual and systemic action on the greatest problem we ve ever faced. I found it a helpful spur to creative thinking and action, and I bet you will as well. Read it, and then get out there and change the politics and economics that are driving us towards - well, if not hell, then a place with a similar temperature.
- Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature
We re All Climate Hypocrites Now is part eco-therapy, part climate strategy, and a fantastic antidote to the overwhelm that comes along with living in a global ecological crisis. Say goodbye to those little voices in your head (or those loud voices on Facebook) calling you a hypocrite because you don t bike to work, aren t vegan, fly to a protest, and still haven t taken out that loan for those rooftop solar panels. This book is a fresh and informative unpacking of why we must abandon the notion that individual eco-perfection is possible - or even impactful - in the absence of system-wide change. It s an inspiring call to let go of the either or mentality, to fully embrace the both and, and to remember to go easy on ourselves and each other as we lean in even further into this painful, chaotic yet exciting time of (r)evolution.
- Danna Smith, executive director, Dogwood Alliance
Sami Grover s wise book charts a middle way to win transformational change. He challenges us to embrace our climate hypocrisy as a goal to uproot the structures that are killing the planet without losing sight of the strategic individual actions we can take right now. We can t curate our way out of the climate crisis as consumers - we must replace the system that makes us climate hypocrites. We climate hypocrites have agency, in varying degrees, to take actions that multiplied by the millions will help to win the big changes we need to survive. With our eyes on the stars and our feet on the ground, we can meet ourselves where we are without guilt and act for a more equitable, just, and sustainable world. Let this book show you how.
- Bill Corcoran, Sierra Club s Beyond Coal campaign
What a great book. Grover pushes well beyond BTUs and solar installs to confront shame, duplicity, and the multi-ality of being human. It s daring, bold, and wonderfully provocative. One moment I m hoping he buys the new crepe pan, the next I m staring in the mirror thinking about my wasteful habits. It s a great read with an epic span - from the morality of procreation to a wheelbarrow of horse shit and back again. Loved it.
- Lyle Estill, author, Small Is Possible , grandparent, distiller
If you are a climate concerned person who struggles with the nuanced complexity of being green, Sami s book will help you navigate this contemporary moral maze with intelligent bigger picture thinking plus a rich seam of strategies and initiatives large and small for a healthier planet.
- Maddy Harland, co-founder editor, Permaculture Magazine , author, Fertile Edges
Nobody knows more about the business of sustainability than Sami Grover. He brings a welcome dose of wit, clarity, and levity to the green movement.
- Brian Merchant, best-selling author, The One Device
On every page of this rip-roaring read I found myself, my partner, my neighbour, my colleagues, my family, and my friends and every holier-than-thou temptation, every emptying out of the compost bin, every person who berated me for traveling for work with refugees. Hypocrisy is in our DNA, and in this book it is both hilariously observed, with all the dry wit of a Brit, and pragmatically harnessed for good. I honestly could not put it down. It s a tour de force for hope. And kindness. And love for the world and the future.
- Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts, University of Glasgow
Grover s nuanced take on how to approach life at the end of the world - with thoughtfulness, honesty, and more than a touch of pragmatism - gives even the most jaded amongst us a boost of energy to do our part in extending the health of the planet, for as long as we can. While he turns to science, public commentary, experts, and activists to remind us that individual energies and collective action can produce results, what makes We re All Climate Hypocrites Now is Grover s willingness to put himself squarely in the middle of these debates, engaging with his own evolution as a climate activist, and evaluating and reevaluating his own practices. The honesty with which he writes is an invitation, rather than an edict, to join him in making a difference.
- Dr. Kumarini Silva, associate professor, Communication and Cultural Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill, author, Brown Threat
Sami Grover s We re All Climate Hypocrites Now is an enjoyable, well-timed tonic for often-bitter debates about whether a focus on personal emissions helps or hurts societal efforts to stop the climate crisis. His proposal is to repurpose Big Oil s buck passing carbon footprint into a tool to identify your own specific leverage to create wider social change. A thinking person s call to action, best enjoyed with a cold, well-crafted American beer.
- Dr. Dan Rutherford, Aviation Director, International Council on Clean Transportation
As someone who teaches environmental advocacy, I know the paralysis, guilt, and self-blame that sometimes hits us when the odds seem insurmountable, and Grover s book is a great antidote. Grover reminds us that the social, economic, and political roots of climate change are broad and deep, but so are the solutions. With in-depth interviews and entertaining anecdotes, he shows us how climate scientists, activists, and advocates are finding ways to address the myriad problems that are linked to the unfolding climate crisis. Grover s candid and upbeat approach offers a fresh and inspiring take on climate action that will become required reading in my courses.
- Dr. David Monje, assistant professor, co-director, UNC s Program for Cultural Studies
A thought-provoking, insightful, and witty exploration of the familiar dilemmas we face navigating the world of climate solutions, from personal choices to systemic change, and the interplay between the two.
- Andreas Karelas, founder and executive director, RE-volv, author, Climate Courage
Over the years, many have struggled mightily to find a place of balance and comfort in the pursuit of personal accountability in their individual lives, while addressing the ultimate solutions needed to conquer the carbon crisis, which is at the root of climate change. Sami highlights a multitude of actions on a variety of scales that trigger this consternation while appropriately calling-out the systems of greatest causation where the focus belongs. His wit, insightfulness, and informed knowledge is refreshing and on full display. Sami s judge not, that you be not judged accounts in the book are humorous, thought provoking, and profound. We re All Climate Hypocrites Now is a must read for all climate change warriors.
- Joe Jackson, board vice chair, Dogwood Alliance, founder, EcoGrounds Management Systems
We re All Climate Hypocrites Now
How Embracing Our Limitations Can Unlock the Power of a Movement
Sami Grover
Copyright 2021 by Sami Grover. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh.
Cover images: iStock
Printed in Canada. First printing September 2021.
This book is intended to be educational and informative. It is not intended to serve as a guide. The author and publisher disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk that may be associated with the application of any of the contents of this book.
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of We re All Climate Hypocrites Now should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.
To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737
L IBRARY AND A RCHIVES C ANADA C ATALOGUING IN P UBLICATION
Title: We re All climate hypocrites now : how embracing our limitations can unlock the power of a movement / Sami Grover.
Other titles: We are all climate hypocrites now
Names: Grover, Sami, author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210265116 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210265183 | ISBN 9780865719606
(softcover) | ISBN 9781550927535 (PDF) | ISBN 9781771423496 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Environmental responsibility. | LCSH: Environmental protection-Citizen participation. | LCSH: Environmentalism.
Classification: LCC GE195.7 .G76 2021 | DDC 363.7-dc23
New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision.
For Lilia, Adeline, and Jenni. You re why I do what I do. (Now turn out the bloody lights.)
Contents
Acknowledgments: An Incomplete Catalog of Gushing Praise and Profuse Thanks
Preface: The Night I Went Drinking and the World Fell Apart
A Gradual Social Reckoning
Action Is Contagious Too
Getting to the Point
1. We re All Climate Hypocrites Now
What Does Hypocrite Even Mean?
Rational Choice Is No Choice At All
Undermining the Messenger
A Convenient Mistruth
Eco-Moralism Runs Deep
Nothing s Ever Easy
The Limits of Personal Responsibility
Why Individual Action Still Matters
2. Wants and Needs
Voting and Shopping Are Not the Same Thing
The Irrational Consumer
Behavior Is About Design
The Roles We Play
Abstinence Is Still Individualism
Finding a Bigger Political Canvas
3. How Green Lost Its Groove
Dilution of a Movement
A Missed Opportunity
The Rise of Eco-Individualism
The Real Value