The Sea Is Rising and So Are We
A Climate Justice Handbook
The Sea Is Rising and So Are We: A Climate Justice Handbook is an invitation to get involved in the movement to build a just and sustainable world in the face of the most urgent challenge our species has ever faced. By explaining the entrenched forces that are preventing rapid action, it helps you understand the nature of the political reality we are facing and arms you with the tools you need to overcome them.
The book offers background information on the roots of the crisis and the many rapidly expanding solutions that are being implemented all around the world. It explains how to engage in productive messaging that will pull others into the climate justice movement, what you need to know to help build a successful movement, and the policy changes needed to build a world with climate justice. It also explores the personal side, including how engaging in the movement can be good for your mental health. It ends with advice on how you can find the place where you can be the most effective and where you can build climate action into your life in ways that are deeply rewarding.
Praise
Cynthia Kaufman has provided us with a vital manual for confronting the climate crisis and its root causes. Kaufman offers compelling analysis, a comprehensive mapping of the political landscape, and practical guidance for action—all in a straightforward and accessible manner. Most importantly, she offers hope.
– Tony Roshan Samara, Program Director of Land Use and Housing at Urban Habitat
A valuable overview of where we as a species are in the existential fight to prevent catastrophic climate disruption. It covers a lot, from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment of our situation to the need for a personally supportive movement culture to sustain our climate activism. It is an accessible, up-to-date resource both for those who have been in the climate fight for decades and those who know they need to do so but haven’t yet figured out how.
– Ted Glick, longtime climate organizer and author of Burglar for Peace
A rare kind of book, at once a primer for activists and an astute commentary on a set of critical topics that even a seasoned climate stalwart could benefit from. It takes on some really tough questions—transformational change, how to talk about the emergency, the need for a specifically global politics of climate justice—and it does in a manner that is both simple and sophisticated. It’s not an easy balance, but Kaufman pulls it off.
– Tom Athanasiou, author of Dead Heat: Global Justice and Global Warming
Contents
| Foreword | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | |
| Chapter 1 | What We Are Up Against: Science and Politics |
| Chapter 2 | Another World Is Possible |
| Chapter 3 | Messaging That Encourages Action |
| Chapter 4 | The Large-Scale Solutions |
| Chapter 5 | Advice for Action |
| Chapter 6 | Choosing the Best Policy Tools |
| Chapter 7 | Finding Your People and Your Practice in the Ecosystem of the Climate Justice Movement |
| Chapter 8 | Self-Care |
| Notes | |
| Annotated Bibliography | |
| Bibliography | |
| About the Authors |
