Name: Abhimat Gautam's review of On Fire by Naomi Klein
Item: On Fire
Rating: 5
Author: Abhimat Gautam

Naomi Klein

A MUST-READ book. Naomi Klein pairs a decade of her powerful writing on our acute environmental decline with new material on the staggeringly high stakes of what we choose to do next; and inspiringly offers here a politically viable, just, sustainable path forward. For more than twenty years, Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged on both people and planet--and the champion of a sweeping environmental agenda with stability and justice at its center. In lucid dispatches from the frontlines--from the ghostly Great Barrier Reef, to the annual smoke-choked skies of the Pacific Northwest, to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, to a Vatican attempting an unprecedented "ecological conversion"--she has penned surging, indispensable lectures and essays for a wide public, with prescient, clarifying information about the future that awaits us and our children if we stick our heads in the sand. They show Klein at her most thoughtful, tracing the evolution of the climate crisis as the key issue of our time, not only as an immediate political challenge but as a spiritual and imaginative one too. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of "perpetual now," to the soaring history of humans' ability to change rapidly in the face of grave threat, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of "climate barbarism," this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink. Above all, she underscores how we can still rise to the existential challenge of the crisis if we are willing to transform our systems that are producing it, making clear how the battle for a greener world is indistinguishable from the fight for our lives. On Fire is a critical book: it captures the burning urgency of this moment, the fiery energy of a rising movement demanding change now, and lays out an inspiring vision for a sustainable future.

The Burning Case for a Green New Deal

On Fire

Derek

Abhimat Gautam

Narratively, this book was sort of all over the place, but I learned a lot from this book. It’s largely a collection of essays written by the author over the past decade, so the narrative thread and connection is a little wandering through the book. But I learned so many details about the ideas, justifications, and histories behind the policies of the Green New Deal and similar policy proposals.

The biggest paradigm shift from this book for me was the realization that the social justice, racial justice, and the economic and job reform components of the Green New Deal are not just niceties or overzealous additions from progressive liberals. Rather, these components of the Green New Deal are necessary in order to get the important climate policies to be implemented and adopted. Klein made a strong case arguing that many of the same capitalistic ideas that have caused the climate crisis are underlying the same issues that many racial and social justice movements are trying to address. This is why we need policies (like those in the Green New Deal) that address not only the surface climate issues, but also the underlying structural issues that have created and stymied progress against climate issues. And directly including racial and social components into climate policy helps address these broader underlying societal issues (like colonialism, capitalism, and need for perpetual growth) that have so far stifled attempts to address the climate crisis.

I’m deeply grateful and appreciative to have received this perspective on the climate crisis. After reading this book, I have a better understanding on how to push for climate policy that can help address the underlying issues creating and perpetuating the climate crisis.

Christine Liu

I had never read anything by Naomi Klein before even though I've been aware of her books for well over a decade. On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal turned out to be a great introduction. It collects some of the most compelling essays and speeches she's penned over the last decade. In chronological order, Klein takes us from BP's disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill, through the tactics of climate science deniers in the face of new scientific findings that each more dire than the last about the catastrophe we're all hurtling towards, through the confounding apathy of politicians who refuse to take meaningful action even as parts of the world burn while others drown, and finally to AOC and Senator Ed Markey's Green New Deal legislation.

It's depressing to look back on the decade and be reminded of both how progressively worse things have become (more extreme weather, widening wealth gaps, millions of new climate refugees displaced, and rising nationalism and white supremacy around the world), but Klein's writing doesn't succumb to cynicism and blame. Throughout these mostly short pieces, she continually argues her case with clarity and urgency. What we need, she says again and again, is a completely transformative, justice-based shift to a postcarbon economy.

Klein envisions winding down existing fossil fuel projects and ramping up renewable energy projects to get to zero emissions by 2050. She highlights the importance of making sure that Indigenous and poor urban communities, who have suffered the most from our overreliance on dirty energy, are first to receive public funds to own and control their own green energy projects. She argues that fossil fuel profits should be reallocated to subsidize free public transit and affordable renewable power, that we have a responsibility to help poor countries shift to renewables and to support migrants displaced by oil wars and environmental degradation brought on by corporations based in wealthy countries like ours, and that we have an unprecedented opportunity to redress the crimes of the colonial era such as land theft, genocide, and slavery.

This is an inspiring read, and it opened my eyes to how much I still need to educate myself on climate justice.

Sara

Sandy

Nathan Knowler

Daniel Gynn

Michael Springer

#1 international and New York Times bestselling author Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything, makes the case for a Green New Deal—explaining how bold climate action can be a blueprint for a just and thriving society. For more than twenty years, Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged on both people and planet—and an unapologetic champion of a sweeping environmental agenda with justice at its center. In lucid, elegant dispatches from the frontlines of contemporary natural disaster, she pens surging, indispensable essays for a wide public: prescient advisories and dire warnings of what future awaits us if we refuse to act, as well as hopeful glimpses of a far better future. On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal gathers for the first time more than a decade of her impassioned writing, and pairs it with new material on the staggeringly high stakes of our immediate political and economic choices. These long-form essays show Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but as a spiritual and imaginative one, as well. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of “perpetual now,” to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of “climate barbarism,” this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink. With reports spanning from the ghostly Great Barrier Reef, to the annual smoke-choked skies of the Pacific Northwest, to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, to a Vatican attempting an unprecedented “ecological conversion,” Klein makes the case that we will rise to the existential challenge of climate change only if we are willing to transform the systems that produced this crisis. An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal.

Derek &
On Fire by Naomi Klein

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On Fire by Naomi Klein