This book is an Extinction Rebellion handbook - part manifesto for the cause, part instruction manual on being involved. I should have read it years ago, though for my money I was already involved with the movement by the time it came out - I was prompted to read it now having just finished another book about the mass extinction humans are causing.
The first half of the book is "Tell the Truth"; a collection of essays about the stark reality of the ecological crisis we face, with contributions from a variety of scientists & activists on various facets of the challenge. The second half is "Act Now"; further essays on, among other things, the model of civil resistance XR pioneered by Roger Hallam (one of the movement's founders), the political dimensions of the challenge & opportunity from Caroline Lucas & Clive Lewis, and the need for an overhaul of our economic thinking by Kate Raworth. The book ends on a hopeful note with an afterword by Rowan Williams.*
This book may be a bit past its sell-by date, since XR as a movement has lost much of the momentum it had in that first year & activity is winding down, but this is still an insightful & compelling read on the enormity of the crisis & practical ways we can be responding to it.
* The ex-Archbishop of Canterbury; it is Williams's influence that got me involved with XR in the first place back in 2018, as I was working for Church Army at the time & he was its president, so, already being deeply concerned about the ecological crisis, when Williams released a statement in support of XR, basically I took that as a direct order to put myself on the frontline. I was arrested alongside several dozen others for blocking Lambeth Bridge, and I slept like a baby in the police cell. Head down, eyes closed, mind utterly at rest, no dreams. A salved conscience will do that to you.
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