when you feel the most anxious
Sage advice from “The Language of Climate Politics”
My copy of The Language of Climate Politics by Genevieve Guenther is now littered with underlines, dotted with exclamation points (and there’s even the occasionally ineptly scrawled heart in the margins).
The book makes its case with exhilarating power, clarity—and (given that it’s less than 200 pages) intensely informative, razor-sharp brevity. While ostensibly a book for people who are communicating about climate change (and who wish to fight fossil-fuel propaganda), the book also offers, for general readers1, a pithy primer on the science, economics and politics undergirding the climate crisis. The MIT philosophy professor Kieran Setiya hit the nail on the head when he said, “If you want to understand the climate crisis and you only have time to read one book, this should be it.”
As my pencil scratchings will attest, there were many passages that struck a chord. I’ll restrain myself from sharing too many (it’s far better for you to find your own favorites) but here is one:
Fear of what may happen if we do not force policy- and decision-makers to end their support for fossil energy is not a symptom of alarmism. On the contrary. It's a sign that you are willing to look at the danger head-on and not look away. It is a sign of courage. You should talk about it as such.
[…]
It is important to pause and take slow, deep breaths if prickling sensations of panic begin to creep over your skin. You should calm yourself—but then also steel yourself. Have courage. And do not dwell on the terrifying news about climate change. To do that is to focus on what you cannot control. Instead—especially when you feel the most anxious—try to turn your attention away from the physical, planetary symptoms of running the economy on fossil fuels and instead focus on the powerful people who are working hard to preserve or even expand the use of coal, oil, and gas in America and around the world. These are the people maintaining the systems that are destroying the human future. The goal in shifting your attention to these people is to convert your fear into anger—to cultivate in yourself the galvanizing sense of righteous indignation that history and social science have shown best inspires political action.
Here’s one more nugget from the book (in a section which looks at the devastating economic consequences of intensifying planetary warming):
[I]n helping people start talking about how climate change threatens the world’s prosperity, you can help them see what is so important to know now: that future progress relies not on our so-called mastery of nature, but on our acceptance that we are nature, and in destroying nature we destroy ourselves.
The Language of Climate Politics offers a potent reminder that you don’t need to be a climate scientist or an economist or a senator to talk about the climate crisis. Far from it. We need people from all walks of life to be able to look “at the danger head-on” and then communicate what’s at stake and what needs to be done in ways that are understandable, accessible and relevant to their friends, families and colleagues. This book will help you to do just that.
Whether or not you’ve had a chance to read it yet, I do hope you’ll join us in (virtual) community to reflect on its insights at the kickoff of The Condor Book Club tomorrow evening. Hopefully you’ll bring some burning questions too—after a discussion of 45 minutes, the author—Dr. Genevieve Guenther—will be hopping on to answer some.
ICYMI, here’s everything you need to know about tomorrow’s discussion:
Date: Wednesday, March 5th
Time: 5:15-6:30pm PST / 8:15-9:30pm EST (Dr. Guenther will be hopping on to answer questions at 6pm PST)
To encourage a lively discussion, this event won’t be recorded
See you (hopefully!) tomorrow.
I’ll be insisting my husband reads my copy, and then I’ll lend it to my mom. Neither are climate communicators but I think they’ll really appreciate reading this.
How can I get a copy of this book to read?