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We're All Climate Hypocrites Now: How Embracing Our Limitations Can Unlock the Power of a Movement
A useful -- and sprightly! -- effort to get at the choice between individual and systemic action on the greatest problem we've ever faced. -- Bill McKibben, author, The End of NatureTaking a tongue-in-cheek approach, self-confessed eco-hypocrite Sami Grover says we should do what we can in our own lives to minimize our climate impacts and we need to target those actions so they create systemic change. We're All Climate Hypocrites Now helps you decide what are the most important climate actions to take for your own personal situation.Our culture tells us that personal responsibility is central to tackling the climate emergency, yet the choices we make are often governed by the systems in which we live. Whether it's activists facing criticism for eating meat or climate scientists catching flack for flying, accusations of hypocrisy are rampant. And they come from both inside and outside the movement.Sami Grover skewers those pointing fingers, celebrates those who are trying, and offers practical pathways to start making a difference. We're All Climate Hypocrites Now environmentalism lost its groove Why big polluters want to talk about your carbon footprint The psychology of shaming How businesses can find their activist voice The true power of individuals to spark widespread change. By understanding where our greatest leverage lies, we can prioritize our actions, maximize our impact, and join forces with the millions of other imperfect individuals who are ready to do their part and actually change the system.
192 pages, ebook
Published September 21, 2021
3 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 22, 2021
My analysis in one word? AMAZING! I loved it. This book is so important. It helped me reach greater clarity on a number of issues I have been wrestling with. First and foremost, the hypocrisy issue weighs large in my mind all the time. But the way this book re-framed the discussion, as well as provided relevant historical information, helped me better come to grips with how to proceed as an individual and a business.
I also really loved the thematic discussion on which sort of change matters more, grassroots or systemic? I grapple with this all of the time. I love where the book landed in the end. I liked how the book introduced so many different perspectives and quotes from other individuals. I walked away after reading this book thinking that I had been exposed to a large body of thoughts and perspectives. The scope of this book felt quite large, while still being an easy and fun read. It's hard to pull off that seemingly-opposing combo.
Long story short, this book was exactly what I needed to read. It was reassuring, made me feel a bit less crazy, and added some much-needed clarity for various thematic topics. I have recommended it to others.
I also really loved the thematic discussion on which sort of change matters more, grassroots or systemic? I grapple with this all of the time. I love where the book landed in the end. I liked how the book introduced so many different perspectives and quotes from other individuals. I walked away after reading this book thinking that I had been exposed to a large body of thoughts and perspectives. The scope of this book felt quite large, while still being an easy and fun read. It's hard to pull off that seemingly-opposing combo.
Long story short, this book was exactly what I needed to read. It was reassuring, made me feel a bit less crazy, and added some much-needed clarity for various thematic topics. I have recommended it to others.
January 3, 2022
TL/DR A great quick read for people who want to do more to address climate change, but who are intimidated by the range and scale of necessary action.
This was a really helpful untangling of the knots that people worried about climate change can tie themselves into. It helps readers think about how they can targeting their action and energies, using individual behavioral and political action to make medium and large scale change, rather than focusing on time-consuming and basically impossible individual climate purity.
I also appreciated that it aimed itself specifically at people who are already convinced that the science on climate change is real--not that it required a bunch of technical knowledge, but it jumped right into action, rather than spending a lot of time on making sure readers are sufficiently frightened, which I think can actually make action harder for some readers. (Also, aren't we looking at the news? Plenty to be frightened about there already.)
This was a really helpful untangling of the knots that people worried about climate change can tie themselves into. It helps readers think about how they can targeting their action and energies, using individual behavioral and political action to make medium and large scale change, rather than focusing on time-consuming and basically impossible individual climate purity.
I also appreciated that it aimed itself specifically at people who are already convinced that the science on climate change is real--not that it required a bunch of technical knowledge, but it jumped right into action, rather than spending a lot of time on making sure readers are sufficiently frightened, which I think can actually make action harder for some readers. (Also, aren't we looking at the news? Plenty to be frightened about there already.)
October 22, 2021
Sometimes the surest step forward is to simply change your perspective of the problem.
Like many people I know, I feel overwhelmed by the prospect of Climate Change and how to address it. I often feel guilty about how my lifestyle contributes to the issue and frustrated with my ability to do anything truly meaningful about it. Sami introduces practical pathways towards galvanizing a movement geared toward enacting systemic solutions, instead of focusing solely on individual action.
While I certainly expected to gain knowledge and insight reading this book, I didn’t expect to thoroughly enjoy it. Sami approaches a difficult subject with empathy and tongue-in-cheek good humor, taking into consideration the realities of what it is to be a human in the modern world.
Like many people I know, I feel overwhelmed by the prospect of Climate Change and how to address it. I often feel guilty about how my lifestyle contributes to the issue and frustrated with my ability to do anything truly meaningful about it. Sami introduces practical pathways towards galvanizing a movement geared toward enacting systemic solutions, instead of focusing solely on individual action.
While I certainly expected to gain knowledge and insight reading this book, I didn’t expect to thoroughly enjoy it. Sami approaches a difficult subject with empathy and tongue-in-cheek good humor, taking into consideration the realities of what it is to be a human in the modern world.
October 27, 2021
I really liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who is grappling with the question of whether, and how, individual lifestyle choices matter in the fight against climate change.
I really liked how Sami shows that individual vs. collective action is a false dichotomy, and explores the ways that people can strategically target their individual choices in order to change systems.
One of my favorite things about the book is that Sami interviews a ton of activists, authors, and academics from around the world - I think more writers should do this! The combined wisdom of so many people makes the book so much stronger than it would have been otherwise.
I really liked how Sami shows that individual vs. collective action is a false dichotomy, and explores the ways that people can strategically target their individual choices in order to change systems.
One of my favorite things about the book is that Sami interviews a ton of activists, authors, and academics from around the world - I think more writers should do this! The combined wisdom of so many people makes the book so much stronger than it would have been otherwise.
November 9, 2021
Sami Grover attained the impossible. Lyle Estill dropped his book off for me about climate change that is serious, well written, funny as hell and inspiring in a time when some of us think, what's the use? He does a great job of documenting the history, looking at the human psyche and discussing systemic vs. individual change. It actually makes you want to jump in with both feet and start working on your own "carbon handprint" as well as larger systemic changes. Not only for our grandchildren, but for US. I'm getting these books for my friends and family instead of chia pets this year for holiday gifts...thank you Sami!
tami schwerin, pittsboro nc
tami schwerin, pittsboro nc
December 13, 2021
This is a great read and an excellent and very timely book. It gives a clear and compelling response to the climate crisis and focuses on ways we can all help in addressing the huge task ahead of us. Sami Grover writes with passion and absolute conviction, emphasising the power of community, the strengths as well as the limitations of individual action and the need for the heaviest polluters to make the strongest and most urgent response. It is inspiring and vital. Read it.
September 3, 2021
I received an advanced copy of the book, because, well, I am interviewed and quoted in it.
In "We're All Climate Hypocrites Now," author Sami Grover started with the premise that individual lifestyle changes that lower our carbon footprint and make us feel good were just self-centered and useless actions that tried to calm our eco-anxiety. Over the course of a year of a myriad of conversations his premise shifted to the notion that whereas systemic change is an imperative with the impending climate crisis, changing the way we look at and utilize individual changes can help propel those very system changes that are vital.
Over the course of my 15 years of knowing and becoming friends with Sami, we often discussed this very question. We started working together on the KFC campaign he talks about in Chapter 5 and continued throughout the years via my work at Dogwood Alliance. He has always been a huge proponent of new and creative ideas for reducing our impact and making the world a better place. He wrote extensively about it for Treehugger and other publications. I can recall the shift when he started to actively question whether these individual actions made any difference at all and that led to a higher level of analysis which eventually led to this book.
What I like best about this book is that nothing he says left me feeling guilty, and instead he is inspiring me the reader, to think more critically about the actions I take and how they can possibly reverberate in the wider world. I also love that he doesn't go all doom and gloom thus creating another book about climate change that makes people feel, well, doomy and gloomy, and even more anxious than they already are.
I highly recommend this to readers of all stripes - those working on big systemic change like taking down the biggest and baddest polluting industries, to those that are considering eating less meat or recycling, to anyone that has a sense of humor about the current state of the world or to those that could use one.
Sami knocked it out of the park, and thanks to his evolution of concept, produced a book well worth reading by climate change advocates everywhere.
In "We're All Climate Hypocrites Now," author Sami Grover started with the premise that individual lifestyle changes that lower our carbon footprint and make us feel good were just self-centered and useless actions that tried to calm our eco-anxiety. Over the course of a year of a myriad of conversations his premise shifted to the notion that whereas systemic change is an imperative with the impending climate crisis, changing the way we look at and utilize individual changes can help propel those very system changes that are vital.
Over the course of my 15 years of knowing and becoming friends with Sami, we often discussed this very question. We started working together on the KFC campaign he talks about in Chapter 5 and continued throughout the years via my work at Dogwood Alliance. He has always been a huge proponent of new and creative ideas for reducing our impact and making the world a better place. He wrote extensively about it for Treehugger and other publications. I can recall the shift when he started to actively question whether these individual actions made any difference at all and that led to a higher level of analysis which eventually led to this book.
What I like best about this book is that nothing he says left me feeling guilty, and instead he is inspiring me the reader, to think more critically about the actions I take and how they can possibly reverberate in the wider world. I also love that he doesn't go all doom and gloom thus creating another book about climate change that makes people feel, well, doomy and gloomy, and even more anxious than they already are.
I highly recommend this to readers of all stripes - those working on big systemic change like taking down the biggest and baddest polluting industries, to those that are considering eating less meat or recycling, to anyone that has a sense of humor about the current state of the world or to those that could use one.
Sami knocked it out of the park, and thanks to his evolution of concept, produced a book well worth reading by climate change advocates everywhere.
April 30, 2024
I really needed this book. I live under such a heavy weight of self-induced climate guilt. Always doing more, yet never doing enough. Grover encourages us to do all we can while refocusing us on what really matters: systemic change. As I do what I can to contribute to that, I’m going to try hard to measure my personal efforts by what I’m doing, rather than what I’m failing to do.
May 23, 2022
I think that this book plus Generation Dread are the two best climate change books I have read, in addition to complementing each other....maybe Being the Change for a good trio of books! Going to buy a hard copy of this book now.
December 30, 2021
This was a great book, and well written, I couldn't put it down! I've been trying to reduce my own footprint for many years and have struggled with the notion of 'how much difference am I actually having?'. This book helped me think about this differently and what else I can do to increse my effectiveness.. I'm really pleased that I have read this book
October 4, 2021
Effectively bridges the divide of the personal and collective silos of climate action. Personable and warm despite its difficult subject matter, Grover reaches out to people doing the work of climate action and proves that collective and individual actions are necessary in a struggle that will change all of our lives.
January 24, 2022
Sami's analysis of the obstacles (political, personal, and sociological) holding back systemic climate action are spot on and so constructive -- the personal actions we take to simply feel better can turn into movements and progress, if we let them.
The gatekeeping around climate action from within is just as prohibitive as the greenwashing from without and Sami's work goes a long way towards painting a picture of a world where we all work together to build a radically cleaner and more livable world.
The gatekeeping around climate action from within is just as prohibitive as the greenwashing from without and Sami's work goes a long way towards painting a picture of a world where we all work together to build a radically cleaner and more livable world.
June 1, 2022
Well written with anecdotes and easy to read. However it felt like an essay that was made into a book. Very basic ideas for those of us who have been working in climate for a while.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews