Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir

by Brianna Craft

One of Ms. magazine’s “Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2023”

Authentic and inspiring, Everything That Rises personalizes the realities of climate change by paralleling our relationship to the planet with the way we interact within our own homes.
 
Nineteen-year-old Brianna Craft is having a panic attack. A professor’s matter-of-fact explanation of the phenomenon known as “climate change” has her white-knuckling the table in her first environmental studies lecture. Out of her father’s house, she was supposed to be safe.
 
This moment changed everything for Brianna. For her first internship, she jumped at the chance to assist the Least Developed Countries Group at the United Nations’ negotiations meant to produce a new climate treaty. While working for those most ignored yet most impacted by the climate crisis, she grappled with the negligent indifference of those who hold the most power. This dynamic painfully reminded her of growing up in a house where the loudest voice always won and violence silenced those in need.
 
Four years later, Brianna witnessed the adoption of the first universal climate treaty, the Paris Agreement. In this memoir that blends the political with the personal, Brianna dives into what it means to advocate for the future, and for the people and places you love, all while ensuring your own voice doesn’t get lost in the process.
 
It will take all of us to protect our home.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Climate Change, Environment, Feminism, Social Justice

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2023

About the author

Brianna Craft researches climate change. She started in the UN climate negotiations in 2011. Four years later, she witnessed the adoption of the Paris Agreement first hand. Brianna works to further equity in the negotiations for the world’s poorest countries, which have done the least to cause the climate crisis but are the most vulnerable to its impacts.

From a small town in Washington State, Brianna lives in London. When she’s not writing justice-focused climate stories, Brianna works at the International Institute for Environment and Development. She holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from Brown University and is an alumna of the University of Washington. Brianna loves peanut butter.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique memoir that, hopefully, introduces a wider audience to the challenges associated with climate change and the ever expanding body of literature in the field. I'll be curious to see how this is received and how broadly it reaches.

First and foremost, the author is a fresh voice and a fascinating person who moves in the right circles and has made the most of an extraordinary opportunity, so my hat's off to her for chronicling her journey in this form. It's also nice to see luminaries (or elder statesmen) in the field of climate change, such as Bill McKibben, endorsing her efforts.

Stepping back, my sense is that there are three primary (but interspersed) threads throughout the book: (1) a bird's eye, insiders, very-much-on-the-ground (from intern to "support staff"), tour of the years, toil, and effort that led up to the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change (which, of course, is a significant global landmark in the climate change story arc). The author worked/works primarily with the LDC's (least developed countries), so, even though she's an American, much of her work and perspective comes from the "wrong end" of the environmental justice inequities. Personally, I think this is one of the most compelling, yet one of the least understood and appreciated, storylines in climate change advocacy, adaptation, and mitigation.

In addition (or, for some, I expect, primarily), the book is (2) a personal memoir of an incredibly gifted (high school valedictorian, college scholarship, Brown graduate degree) but (emotionally and physically) abused, other-than-white, young lady struggling to deal with and make sense of an inexplicably reprehensible father; and (3) an intensely personal, ongoing, spiritual, one-on-one conversation with a higher being (which, in another memoir might be packaged as an internal dialogue), which, I expect, will polarize readers (and, in the spirit of full disclosure, this was very much "not my thing").

As a point of comparison - and frankly, its isn't a fair comparison, but the mind works in mysterious ways - but as I was reading this I kept thinking about Helen McDonald's sublime and, to my mind, more literary, Vesper Flights, which I strongly recommend.

In 2023 (and beyond), anything that gets anyone reading and thinking and talking about climate change ... or, in any way, opens the door to doing so ... is a worthwhile enterprise. To that end, I hope Clark sells lots of copies and finds herself launched into viral media (or social media) fame.

Thanks to Edelweiss for an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down, I read it in a weekend! Its a fascinating and terrifying look into the world of climate negotiations. I loved hearing about all the people Brianna worked with, they are far from the calm rational people in suits I had always imagined. They are funny and kind and their friends and families are at risk in the climate emergency right now. Brianna and her team have done all the hard work, now its time for us to make sure it doesn't go to waste. (If you read this book you will definately not want their hard work to go to waste). Get yourself down to the next lot of climate protests to make sure your governement honours their committment. I'll see you there!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The international climate negotiations are the only place where the world's poorest and most vulnerable people can hold big polluters to account - but how many people really understanding what's happening behind those closed doors? I care deeply about climate change, but find the negotiations incredibly complicated and difficult to follow. This unique memoir not only helped me understand the politics and the issues, but had me eagerly turning the pages to find out what happened next.

The most powerful and memorable part of the book - at least for me - was the reminder that climate change is not just a headline. "Everything That Rises" is packed with people's personal stories about the way that more frequent storms, longer droughts and other disasters are already affecting them, and how effectively they are using the few tools at their disposal to demand better. Brianna brings their personalities and experiences to life with warmth, humour and compassion. This is an absolutely gripping read - but also an urgent call to action. I will be buying copies for all my friends and family!

[Bookguide · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredibly engaging and well-written memoir of something that affects everyone on this planet by somebody who was there in the thick of climate change negotiations for years until the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 and beyond. Brianna Craft gives a no-holds-barred account of the frustrations and triumphs involved and the intense depression and euphoria it invoked, alongside family issues and an unexpectedly close relationship to her God. If you want to understand why it all took so long to agree on, you can’t do much better than read this book.

The insight into what goes on in the background of international negotiations was absolutely fascinating in this memoir. It's incredible that so much of the support work is done by unpaid interns, whereas I was paid a salary to do essentially the same job for an international European project. Ranging from the COP17 in Durban in 2011 right up until the Paris Agreement signed in November 2015 and beyond, Brianna Craft attended and assisted at all the negotiations, preparations and discussions related to the Least Developed Countries.

Reading Brianna Craft’s memoir of the climate change negotiations, it is fascinating to see the human side of the government officials and their support staff. But, working as she is for the Least Developed Countries, Craft is well-positioned to give us an overview of the desperate situation many countries face. In fact, working to support Pa Ousman, one of the most prominent African negotiators, she may well have a better overview than anybody else of what happened.

As the world spirals towards climate disaster, negotiations are painstakingly slow. It is the Least Developed Countries that are facing the worst consequences and are affected most, yet it is the developed world that caused the climate crisis and is dragging its heels about solving it. Many small island nations and low-lying coastal areas may be swamped by rising sea levels and salination, making their farmland unproductive. In the entire continent downriver from the Himalayas, the vast quantities of water released by melting glaciers could spell disaster. Weather systems are destabilising and extreme weather causes disasters around the globe.

“After an AmeriCorps year spent teaching kids in after‐school environmental clubs, removing invasive species, and organizing local climate co‐ops in Seattle’s south side, I knew there was no going back, no more ignoring what I wanted. Doing something about the global threat affecting everything and everyone was more important than the regimented future continuing my architectural aspirations afforded. At twenty‐four, I would go back to school. I decided to gamble two years and all the borrowed money I could muster on a master’s in environ mental studies in the fabled Ivy League, where I hoped to turn passion into a bankable career, one that would make a genuine difference.” She was actually studying Technology Transfer, for the energy transition.

When she attends a weekly discussion group on climate change, mostly for the free lunch included, she gets the chance of a lifetime. A London‐based researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development needs an assistant when she advises the chair of the Least Developed Countries Group at the upcoming UN climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa, representing The Gambia.

Once she arrives in Durban, one of things that she notices is that some of the delegates very openly sexually harass and proposition the young women like herself. It’s a cultural difference she hadn’t expected and later on, she joins with other women to try to combat it, or rather, avoid it; there seem to be no policy guidelines. However, most of the relationships she builds up during the ongoing and repeating negotiations and their preparation are positive. One of the things I enjoyed most were her stories about informal moments and in particular with certain of her colleagues who obviously have a great sense of humour.

Another thing that she soon realises about the climate negotiations is that, unlike in her own country, i.e. the USA, there was no question about whether climate change was happening or if it was an issue. For many of the countries it was a deadly serious reality threatening their very existence.

“Power was the ability to inspire wide‐ranging agreement rather than bend others to your will. Moral authority could rally strength of numbers, so the vulnerable spoke with influence the wealthy could rarely command.”

Interspersed with the main story of the climate talks is Brianna Craft’s own life story. She has always had an extremely difficult relationship with her tyrannical father and cannot wait to move away from the family home. Only when he has gone through major surgery (which she only hears about later) does she make a concerted effort to reconnect, but old habits are hard to break. Struggling with her guilt about this failure, she reveals that she has a very personal relationship with a loving God who values her. She does not pray in a conventional sense, but has imaginary conversations with an amusing God who teases her and advises her.
“I didn’t know anything like this Love. Patience on an unhuman timescale. Kindness. Undemanding, eternally hopeful. His faithful love endures forever. It was not inconsistent or determined by my performance.” The contrast with her father is obvious.

I found this an immensely absorbing and interesting glimpse into something that is a closed book to most of us. Yet anyone who has worked in an office will recognise the office politics and the day-to-day reality of back-to-back meetings, though I was surprised just how much of the final decision-making was done in extremely late-night meetings. I was also expecting Greta Thunberg to turn up at any moment, but she generally moves in completely different circles. This is the real inside story of how negotiations progress, rather than the activist side of things that possibly have more effect at persuading the public than truly changing the minds of politicians. There is also some succinct information about climate change and how it affects the Least Developed Countries that is extremely valuable. This book is just full of mind-blowing information. Personally I enjoyed the more personal aspects of Brianna Craft’s home life and her quirky, talkative God, but I can imagine that some people would find it unnecessary or even off-putting. You could always skip those parts; there’s more than enough to make this a fascinating and absorbing non-fiction read for anyone interested in travel and politics.

Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion of a digital ARC I received for free from NetGalley.

[Caitlin H · Rating 4 out of 5]

My own climate research centres around who holds the power when it comes to environmental international relations, and how that power play harms the most vulnerable. Brianna does a fantastic job at demonstrating the true heartbreak surrounding the climate crisis and how unfortunately so much of our hope rests on nations’ abilities to take climate action seriously. However, her notions of individual action and the cumulative importance of these actions also does well to instil a sense of happiness in readers, rather than leaving them in total despair. The internal monologue wasn’t quite my cup of tea but provides a nice cadence shift to break up the UN bureaucracy. A great read for those both familiar with, and wanting and introduction to, climate negotiations.

[Kakali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brianna Craft signed my copy of her book with this note :
"Love is climate action!
Vote. Protest. Divest. "

Brianna Craft, climate researcher and author of ‘Everything that rises,’ is a fascinating person I had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with in one of her book launch events. This unique memoir is her insider’s view of the painstakingly slow, bureaucratic, and complex process of UN climate negotiation conferences, including the Paris Agreement signed in 2015.
Brianna Craft's book is a compelling narrative that takes the reader inside the climate negotiations at the UN conferences. What makes the book relatable are the stories of her personal struggles at these conferences as an unpaid intern from Brown. Working very late nights as all talks fail, learning to work with lead negotiators like Pa Ousman, even choosing the right dress to wear as a delegate are all real problems behind the scenes.
As a researcher taking part in these negotiations - her most disappointing takeaway was the indifference of the countries that hold the power to the vulnerable countries impacted most by climate change. She works primarily with the Least Developed countries (LDCs), so much of her focus is on the inequities of environmental justice
Brianna also navigates her own personal journey of alienation from her parents, especially her father as he continues gaslights and belittles her, even though a major illness and recovery.

[Jodie Frosdick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving, compelling and utterly unique memoir. This book gives a rare genuine glimpse into the world of climate negotiations that most of us don't see, but are all affected by. Brianna manages to make the complex and political world of UN climate negotiations accessible and even relatable, as well as letting us in to her personal world in a way that is both vulnerable and empowering - reminding you of the real people, lives and struggles that make advocacy so important.

Brianna's story is powerful, moving and incredibly well told - read this if you want to be inspired.

[Joel Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me understand the COP process greatly. It is well written and easy to follow. I actually require this book for my climate leadership course. It has helped my students sort through the crazy web of global climate policy and has helped them process their frustrations with the lack of progress on the global scale.

[Reader Sandra Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book it taught me a lot about climate change. It was a really good read.

[Kate Knowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Became particularly sobering post election results… a fantastic class read though.