Book #2: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. Climate -by Naomi Klein

Trevor Jones 

9/25/15

• File Size: 2914 KB
• Print Length: 577 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (September 16, 2014)
• Publication Date: September 16, 2014
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00JHIDON6 

Professional Review: 

"Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything is a ground-breaking work on how climate change changes everything. Written with an elegant blend of science, statistics, field reports and personal insight, it does not paralyze but buoys the reader. The book’s exploration of climate change from the perspective of how capitalism functions produces fresh insights and its examination of the interconnectedness between our relationship with nature and the creation of better, fairer societies presents a radical proposal. Klein’s urgency and outrage is balanced by meticulous documentation and passionate argument. Heart and mind go hand in hand in this magisterial response to a present crisis."
—Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction jury citation 

Customer Review: 

I was sidelined from attending the People's Climate March by a knee injury. As a consolation prize, a friend gave me a copy of This Changes Everything, hot off the press. This monumental achievement will go down in history alongside Sand County Almanac and Silent Spring as an environmental clarion call of extraordinary clarity. Klein, a brilliant scholar and a journalist par excellence, does something that no one else could accomplish: she masterfully weaves together an overarching narrative that explains the climate predicament, how we got here, why it has been so hard to address the climate issue (because its resolution directly conflicts with neoliberal economics), who the culprits are, and what must be done. She's hard hitting but fair, and there is plenty of blame to go around. There's a chapter titled "The Right is Right" (because they fully understand that the climate issue is inherently about a titanic clash of values), and there's a chapter on the co-option of Big Green. (It seems that nearly everyone has tar on their hands.) Klein is also compassionate and weaves into the narrative how becoming a parent compounds and heightens the issues for her. The book is both a bible and a manifesto for the environmental movement. No other work that I know of gives such a comprehensive view of why humanity is in this predicament, what the stakes are, what the timeline must be, and -- most importantly -- what the opportunities are to create a more just and sustainable world in the process of saving the planet from climate catastrophe. I am in total awe of This Changes Everything.

Why I chose this book: 

I chose this book because it had very positive remarks and shows the reader how we are leading ourselves to the planet's downfall. This book teaches us how humans impact the climate on a day to day basis as well as the long term effects on the climate and how it will play out.