304 pages
6 x 9
2 illustrations
The evidence is irrefutable: global warming is real. While the debate continues about just how much damage spiking temperatures will wreak, we know the threat to our homes, health, and even way of life is dire. So why isn’t America doing anything? Where is the national campaign to stop this catastrophe?
It may lie between the covers of this book. Ignition brings together some of the world’s finest thinkers and advocates to jump start the ultimate green revolution. Including celebrated writers like Bill McKibben and renowned scholars like Gus Speth, as well as young activists, the authors draw on direct experience in grassroots organization, education, law, and social leadership. Their approaches are various, from building coalitions to win political battles to rallying shareholders to change corporate behavior. But they share a belief that private fears about deadly heat waves and disastrous hurricanes can translate into powerful public action.
For anyone who feels compelled to do more than change their light bulbs or occasionally carpool, Ignition is an essential guide. Combining incisive essays with success stories and web resources, the book helps readers answer the most important question we all face: “What can I do?”
"Global warming is depressing. Ignition is not. In fact, it's hopeful, sometimes irreverent, and always inspiring. Its authors 'get it'! They understand that combating climate change is a long-term struggle that will require determination, political savvy, and even a little bit of humor."
Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand, filmmakers, "Everything's Cool" and "Blue Vinyl"
"This diverse and unfailingly astute group of authors shows how global warming affects us all and how we can all help fight it. Read this book. Join the movement. You'll make a profitable investment in your future, in our planet, and in prosperity."
L. Hunter Lovins, President and founder, Natural Capitalism, Inc.
"A spark-plug for the emerging climate movement, this book inspires, shapes, motivates, and empowers! Ignition helps transform our baby steps into mature, fresh, energetic, and unswerving strides."
Prof. Calvin B. DeWitt, University of Wisconsin-Madison and President, Academy of Evangelical Scientists
"Ignition assembles some of the movement's best thinkers and most promising strategies, and one can begin to see how all the pieces add up to something that just might work. This is a crucial handbook for anyone who wants to be part of the solution."
Billy Parish, co-founder of the Energy Action Coalition
"Ignition is at different times both visionary and very practical...it has lessons for all of those now helping build a true worldwide movement to tackle climate change."
Nature Reports
Introduction \ Bill McKibben
PART I. It's Time
Chapter 1. Igniting Action for a New Movement
Chapter 2. Groundswell
Chapter 3. Shaping the Movement
Part II. Finding Your Voice
Chapter 4. Irrationality Wants to Be Your Friend
Chapter 5. Communication Strategies
Chapter 6. Coming Home to Roost
PART III. Finding Your Allies
Chapter 7. Focus on Health
Chapter 8. Binding Life to Values
Chapter 9. Climate Justice
PART IV. Getting Mobilized
Chapter 10. The Tidewater
Chapter 11. Your Mission: Focus the Nation
Chapter 12. Practical Steps to Create Change in Your Organization
PART V. Getting Results
Chapter 13. The Sound of Birds Not Singing
Chapter 14. Policy Pathways
Chapter 15. Climate Change and the Business Challenge
Chapter 16. Taking it to the States
Chapter 17. Let's Cause Trouble, Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble
Afterward \ Jared Duval and Nathan Wyeth
Endnotes
References
About the Editors
About the Authors
Index
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world raised their voices this week to demand action on climate change. The demonstrations, which happened as global leaders met for the UN General Assembly, showcased the growth and strength of the movement. It is still to be seen if governments and corporations will take timely action, but it is clear that activists and communities will continue mobilizing and demanding for change.
The following four excerpts highlight leaders, organizations, and strategies from environmental movements in the past. From Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Godmother of Sustainable Development, to labor and environmental activist Chico Mendes, these activists offer lessons and inspiration for anybody who cares about our planet.
Nature’s AlliesIt’s easy to feel powerless in the face of big environmental challenges—but we need inspiration now more than ever. In Nature’s Allies, Larry Nielsen presents the inspiring stories of eight conservation pioneers, John Muir, Ding Darling, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Chico Mendes, Billy Frank Jr., Wangari Maathai, and Gro Harlem Brundtland. They show that through passion and perseverance we can each make a difference, even in the face of political opposition.
Excerpt: Gro Harlem Brundtland, Godmother of Sustainable Development
The Rebirth of EnvironmentalismOver the past two decades, a select group of small but highly effective grassroots organizations have achieved remarkable success in protecting endangered species and forests in the United States. The Rebirth of Environmentalism tells for the first time the story of these grassroots biodiversity groups.
Excerpt: Boldness Has Genius: The Lessons of Grassroots Biodiversity Activism for the Campaign Against Global Warming
IgnitionFor anyone who feels compelled to do more than change their light bulbs or occasionally carpool, Ignition is an essential guide. Combining incisive essays with success stories and web resources, the book helps readers answer the most important question we all face: “What can I do?”
Excerpt: Let's Cause Trouble, Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble
The Burning SeasonAuthor Andrew Revkin artfully interweaves the moving story of Chico Mendes's struggle with the broader natural and human history of the world's largest tropical rain forest. "It became clear," writes Revkin, acclaimed science reporter for The New York Times, "that the murder was a microcosm of the larger crime: the unbridled destruction of the last great reservoir of biological diversity on Earth." In his life and untimely death, Mendes forever altered the course of development in the Amazon, and he has since become a model for environmental campaigners everywhere.
Excerpt: The Burning Season
