Jonathan Porritt was working for environmental improvement long before the birth of any of the young climate campaigners given a voice in this book. Indeed, before some of their parents!
I found this a moving book. Many Just Stop Oil campaigners, often in their twenties, talk about their lives, beliefs, campaigns, fears and struggles. It’s at the same time both an inspiring and sobering book.
It’s good to hear from these young campaigners especially if you think that peaceful direct action campaigners are just misguided troublemakers as this book shows them to be real people – what else could they be? – with strongly held beliefs.
Just Stop Oil’s protests did not, it seemed, bring the public on board but may have alienated some of them. There’s not much in this book about that but that may be because Just Stop Oil’s three year existence ended at an inconvenient juncture in the production of a book.
It is entirely possible to admire the bravery of protesters, particularly (as is apparent in the book) those protesters who are prepared to take the consequences of their actions, but disagree with their choices of how to engineer change. Personally, I’m grateful that Just Stop Oil existed and tried their approach even if, it seems, it had little positive impact. Many of those of us who have worked on environmental change in different ways through our lives have to admit that, despite some precious victories, and despite the direction of travel being positive, the speed of progress has been much slower than we wanted. These young campaigners have the chance to have a rethink and have another go – I wish them well.
It is clear that to bring about change in the world we have to change what people do and there are all sorts of ways (most of them ineffective) of doing that. My favourite quote is that (never said or written) by Edmund Burke, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good [people] do nothing‘ but it is clear that we have yet found the right thing to bring about environmental sustainability.
The cover? Clean and appropriate. I’d give the cover 8/10.
Love, Anger & Betrayal: just stop oil’s young climate campaigners by Jonathon Porritt is published by Anthony Eyre
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