Climate Warrior: Climate Activism and Our Energy Future

by Brad Rouse

What will you do for our children and grandchildren, knowing their future depends on it?

Climate Warrior weaves together the story of one person's response to this question: from awakening and education, to inspiration, advocacy, and action. This book shares Brad Rouse’s personal journey from businessman to climate activist and his efforts to inspire others to join the movement. In the battle for a greener future, he encounters memorable people and organizations – from Al Gore to an ailing senior citizen with high energy bills and a collapsing floor. He describes his vision of a far better future without fossil fuels and the two preferred methods of making this dream real — climate activism and carbon pricing.

Climate Warrior reaches beyond the confines of "memoir" and provides data to support the possibility of a total transformation of the energy system and economy. It details the best ways to speed up this transformation through legislation and the personal actions of millions of people. Climate Warrior is written to help the non-expert develop an understanding of the energy transition ahead and learn how to join the army of climate activists.

328 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 2022

Reviews

[Tom Fehsenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books about climate change are so scary that they keep you up at night. Some are so technical they put you to sleep. Climate Warrior does neither. It is the story of how an ordinary, good-hearted person came to grips with the threats posed by climate change and found positive, practical ways to respond. Brad Rouse's journey took him from growing awareness and education to activism. The book relates how he has taken steps in his own life to eliminate energy waste, educated others about climate change, testified in utility regulation cases, lobbied Congress, founded an organization to help low-income people save energy, and served on his county's sustainability committee. Rouse's background as an energy analyst for utilities provides a realistic basis for his description of the current state of climate change, the probable futures we face, and how we can achieve a zero emission economy. His thoughts about the steps we can take and their impact are well documented and easy to understand. Climate Warrior is a hopeful book. Its message is that we can overcome climate policy inertia and each of us has a role to play. Climate Warrior makes great reading for anyone who cares about future generations.

[Harriet Shugarman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to read the book just as it was finished.

Grandchildren - Bruce Springsteen, Energy Transition, Climate Warriors – Grandchildren. Are you intrigued? You should be! Author Brad Rouse certainly packs it all in, in his new book, Climate Warrior. Brad ends and begins by stating his love and hope for his children and grandchildren— the perfect bookends. Read this book and be inspired by Brad’s personal journey as a climate warrior and his concrete ideas and replicable examples on what each of us can do to create active climate hope and a more positive future for all our children.

[John Senechal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of intelligence, and Brad Rouse hits the mark for a clear vision of the energy transitions to be accomplished in the next 30 years. It's a bold path that needs a lot of work. Brad hits another mark that is just as important: a generosity of spirit that comes through as truly helping, hands-on. If we make it through this man-made crisis of global warming, it will be by the efforts of such helpers, with man-made solutions equal to and greater than business-as-usual inertia.

[Krysta Halye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brad Rouse earned a living as an economist and financial planner and quit his job to become a full-time volunteer for the environment.

This book uses logic to present how we should and need to reduce our carbon footprints. He also presents ways that the Rotary 4 Way Test can be applied to these favorable environmental actions.

[Mary Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, Brad Rouse, for writing this very timely testimony!
It is well-written, educational, concise, and most importantly, compelling.
We have so little time to fight climate change...I hope it flies off the shelves!