Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This Changes Everything belongs to the noble tradition of investigative, crusading journalism championed by the likes of Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, Rachel Carson and John Pilger. It is a meticulously researched and passionately argued exposé and a call to arms. Klein spells out in detail the work of the cabal of corporately-funded propaganda houses such as the Heartland and Cato Institutes, and the Heritage Foundation in undermining climate science and subverting what was once a bi-partisan approach to dealing Climate Change. She gives an extended account of the methods and agendas of these groups and provides good insight into their motivations and the reasons for their success in altering public opinion on Climate Change in the last ten years. The strength of this crusading journalism approach is its passion and sense of outrage, the weakness is that it portrays the world as a simplified battle between good guys and bad guys. The bad guys in the this story are the greedy fossil fuel corporations, the extractive coal and oil companies, the white, middle class, right-wing men who are thoroughly invested in the system as it stands. The good guys are the poor and dispossessed of the Earth, the Indigenous Peoples fighting for their rights, the local communities who want to do the right thing if only the political and business elites would allow them to live in harmony with the Earth. The problem with this world view is that while it may be emotionally plausible is it too simplistic. As I can personally attest from my six years working for Shell Wind there are plenty of caring, environmentally committed people working for oil companies, and there are plenty of selfish and greedy people among the supposed "good guys". The world is a more interesting, diverse and challenging place that Klein would have us believe. The other major weakness of the book is the vision of how this Climate Crisis might be dealt with? Klein's view is that only a major bottom-up revolution of attitudes and behavior will stand any chance of making a significant difference. She draws parallels with the abolition of slavery, the end of colonialism, and the Civil Rights Movement in the US. All of these bottom-up movements for societal change had inspirational and charismatic leaders, clear goals and a well-defined program of what needed to be done to achieve them. At the moment this is just not true of the Climate Action movement. Klein may very well be correct in her analysis that the Climate Crisis needs a movement as profound as these, but the examples of Climate Activism she cites seem to be pale imitators of these profound movements towards social justice. She also misses the point that one of the biggest challenges with trying to convince ordinary people of the urgency of the problem is that it seems too vague, diffuse and insubstantial and with only a peripheral impact on their everyday lives. I applaud this book for arguing powerfully the case for immediate and urgent Climate Action now. I worry that the suggested path towards a solution is too Utopian and lacking in real political bite and feasibility.