What We Can't Burn: Friendship and Friction in the Fight for Our Energy Future

by Eve Driver, Tom Osborn

When Eve Driver and Tom Osborn met as juniors at Harvard University, Eve was a fossil fuel divestment activist from Massachusetts who believed capitalism was at the root of the climate crisis, and Tom was a clean energy entrepreneur from a rural village in Kenya who believed an activist approach was suspended from the real-world experiences of those facing the worst of the crises’ effects.

What We Can’t Burn is a memoir in two voices about friendship formed amid the Harvard fossil fuel Divestment campaign, coming-of-age in a generation confused and divided about how to save itself, and the power of dialogue to bridge conflicting perspectives of climate justice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment

200 pages, Hardcover

Published August 30, 2024

Reviews

[Julia Coddington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book by my wonderful and brilliant friend, Evie❤️

[Val Elefante · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a trip! Moving, lively, visceral, eye-opening, thought-provoking, urgent, sometimes makes you want to scream and throw a temper tantrum (in the best way!!!).

Eve and Tom take big things like the world, the systems we’ve built and operate under, and the ginormous existential threat of climate change and chop it all up into bite size chunks for us to chew on. Then, over time, they masterfully (with gorgeous poetic prose) piece things back together, centering the most valuable lessons and promising approaches so that we all can better understanding each other and perhaps (quickly!) transform & heal our world.

[adelaide · Rating 5 out of 5]

a really beautiful combination of a story about friendship and a serious debate. real but ultimately inspiring! great stuff

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What We Can't Burn: Friendship and Friction in the Fight for Our Energy Future is not about the anthropology or the atmospheric science of climate breakdown. It narrates a culture clash on ways of reacting to that breakdown. No matter what each of us chooses and how much experience the choice is based on, the question always comes “Is this one [or this set] what I should really be doing?” An inner or outer critic will always say it’s futile or deluded or or both.

This non-fiction spotlights personal utilities in our climate emergency. It’s a written and spoken back and forth between two recent college graduates, friends on campus. They followed paths so different in reacting to the climate emergency that each had trouble understanding fully the other’s position. The non-alignment sprang from their different backgrounds. Neither thinks there is only one way. Neither is a zealot.

Eve, raised in suburban America, holds that sustained pressure from students, faculty, shareholders and retirees can make managers of big endowments and big pension funds divest their stakes in fossil fuel companies. Significant loss of funding, the reasoning goes, will make the companies cut back on exploration and continued expansion. This is an absolute necessity if the world is to get to net-zero CO2 emission within thirty years and have a chance of beating a +2C temperature anomaly.

Tom, reared in Kenya, thinks pressure for divestment is rooted in callow anti-capitalism. He favors a hands-on “small is beautiful” approach in which relatively modest amounts of capital start up unselfish local entrepreneurs. One such enterprise in the book is in cooking fuel and home cooking equipment.

Readers of my comments, if you’ve got this far, will be familiar with the arguments for and against pressing universities to divest fossil fuel stocks. “It’s only symbolic,” and “Another endowment will buy it” are often the openers. It’s harder to find fault with investing in eco-conscious startups to combat desertification or air pollution. These can directly relieve misery and want. They are not, however, going to inflect the rising annual rate of global fossil fuel consumption. Moreover, they are vulnerable to hostile takeover by corporation, a corrupt government or a terrorist group.

The book doesn’t end by resolving all conflict between the dialogists. It’s a report from the trenches (or should we say the ramparts?) of the Divest [you name it]! movement than a summation of the good that direct human services like micro-loans can do. It makes a strong case for both. I appreciate it as a story of making and keeping friends in what the apocryphal Chinese proverb calls “interesting times.”

Disclosures: I have contributed money to the Divest campaign at my college and also to organizations like https://adesoafrica.org/durdur-water-....

[Sophie Pesek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inside me there are two wolves—and Eve and Tom's dialogue captured both of them. For anyone passionate about addressing the climate crisis, you've probably wrestled with the same questions around whether activism or innovation helps the most. This argument causes personal rifts between two friends, one fighting for divestment, the other for investment into Kenyan climate entrepreneurs.

Where I currently stand: the climate movement can only be strengthened by radical inclusion. If you think your theory of change is better, feel free to pursue it, but don't waste your time critiquing your allies. The movement is also more powerful when we take a multi-pronged/disciplinary approach. We need activist scientists and anti-capitalist entrepreneurs.

Thank you, Eve, for chatting with me (and so sorry I'm only finishing this now) <3

[Belen Mella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Eve and Tom represent different theories of change for the climate crisis, but they share a commitment to deeply, genuinely wrestling with one-another's world views -- a much needed reminder of the role that dialogue can play as we navigate a complicated time (not just in the challenges we face as a society but also all the technical/social/organizational complexity in addressing them)! The book is beautifully written and transports you from Kenya to Cambridge and back... couldn't recommend more highly!

[Ann Dang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving and beautifully written book that really takes you on a journey that was both a heartfelt coming-of-age and an informative contribution to the conversation around climate emergency. It’s hard not to be invested in the Eve and Tom’s experiences and perspectives through their alternating narratives (a form that I love). Highly recommend!

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really interesting points in this book & it provided very thought-provoking internal and external conversations. It's essentially a presentation of two approaches to climate action from two friends over the course of about a year. While unique & easy to read, it felt cut short at the end & left me a bit unsatisfied.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this down. Eve & Tom’s own story is sown beautifully through the climate narrative, and I found myself thinking critically about both their relationship and the world around us. They made divestment and other discussed topics more approachable and I am so glad this is available as a non-academic source of vital information. Recommending to everyone I know!!

[Jessi Olarsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick and moving read with so much personality and heart. A conversation of friendship, politics, activism vs/plus innovation, and self discovery - topped off with tangible action items for reinvestment plans

[Duncan Magidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this because one of the authors reached out to me at work, so it felt like a total wildcard. But I was blown away by the quality and thoughtfulness of the writing from both authors. I absolutely inhaled this.

[Em Koch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in one sitting. An easy read of complex issues, both personal and collective. Highly recommend

[Terri McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so approachable, and the modeling of opposing dialogues is so well done.

[Elise Rosenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

AmAAAZinNnnGggG