No matter what your politics, I think we can agree that if hope is not a plan, despair is not an option. Fear mongers of the right and doomsday Cassandras of the left give us little room to maneuver, so most Americans just check out. For one, I believe in human resourcefulness and our ability to adapt.
So how refreshing it is to hear another voice, deeply rooted in the philosophy of pragmatism and insights of social research, offering a third option. Labeled the bad boys of the environmental movement, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger have expanded their manifesto, The Death of Environmentalism, to a movement. Their new book, Break Through, makes their case, solidly reasoned, sidestepping despair to action, building a platform of preparedness and other actionable ideas.
I read this book on a cross-country flight, and was still flying when walking off the plane. If you have a short attention span, just read Chapter 6 reprinted at salon.com, Stop Your Sobbing. But, the real payoff is in chapters 7-8, if only to escape the mythology of a 20-year spanning Boomer Generation.
Need a further recommendation? The ideologues of both the left and the right hate them. What could be better than that?
