Green Group discussion

To me, this is a "must" for everyone concerned about the environmental, and especially environmental activists.

Hawken's main argument is that the environmental movement is a decentralized movement which is also connected to social justice organizations.

He claims that there are so many of these env. and social justice organizations that they would be impossible to count. He estimates between 1 and 2 million across the globe.

Most of them work on local issues with little resources, but still, they succeed.

It would be impossible to summarize everything in this jampacked book, but here are some of the main elements of the book:

- In two of the chapters, Hawken briefly goes through the history of the environmental movement, from Emerson and Thoreau to Rachel Carson. The chapter on Emerson and Thoreau on concentrated on how human beings are part of a very interconnected ecosystem. The chapter on Carson's fight was particularly interesting because he discusses the strategy of corporations that damage the environment (which is much like the stategy of the tobacco companies).

- In another chapter, Indigene, he writes about how environmental degradation particularly harms indigenous peoples, but also talks about how they connected with and worked in cooperation with nature.

- In We Interrupt This Empire, he talks about organizations such as the WTO and World Bank, and how they are unaccountable to anyone, not even nations. I've long been interested in the workings of the WTO so I found this chapter very informative.

- He does tackle the question, can environmentalists and activists involved in social justice be successful if they are decentralized rather than centralized. He believes that they can; each organization is like a part of the body, performing their particular function to move the whole. I personally disagree. Yes, we need these local, small organizations. However, until we have the groundswelling that will move governments and corporations, there won't be truly big wins.

I'm leaving so much out. My humble opinion: read it! It will be worth your time.