Rebecca Solnit is an American author, historian and activist renowned for her writings on the environment, politics and social justice. She is particularly known for her literary style, which combines narrative elements, personal reflections and deep cultural and political analysis. As an activist, Rebecca Solnit has been a leading voice in the feminist and environmental movements, using her pen to denounce injustice and inspire collective action. Her work has been widely recognized and awarded, including by the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lannan Literary Prize.
Thelma Young Lutunatabua is an activist and digital storyteller on several social networks, dedicated to climate and social justice issues. She has worked with several international organizations, including 350.org, where she played a key role in designing and implementing climate awareness campaigns around the world. Originally from the Fiji Islands, she brings to the fore the voices of marginalized communities, the struggles and successes of climate resistance. Her ability to fuse personal stories with global issues has made her an influential figure in the climate justice movement.
In Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility [1], Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua offer a protean compilation of journalist, scientist and activist essays, interviews, quotes and reflections, all revolving around the same question facing – perhaps more than ever – anyone working or engaging with climate issues on a daily basis: what path can we find between the pitfalls of a disillusioned defeatism, a naïve optimism, or a counterproductive psychological denial ?
As well as setting out the concrete consequences of the climate crisis, this book offers a mosaic of subjective experiences, illuminated by more philosophical essays. Whether you prefer to be convinced or persuaded, the book fulfills its mission, and forcefully restores hope and the desire to take action. In its three main sections, Not Too Late offers a comprehensive overview of climate-related challenges and solutions, as well as moral and emotional frameworks for addressing them.
The first section (“We Have the Solutions”) focuses on pragmatic approaches to combating climate change, identifying several solutions that can be deployed right now. Technological solutions first, such as solar and wind power, which make it possible to envisage the abandonment of fossil fuels. But also legal and diplomatic solutions (with the testimony of a negotiator to the Paris Agreements) or societal solutions, when several Micronesian communities are presented as possible sources of inspiration. These essays often emphasize the importance of activism and community involvement, showing how movements and communities “on the front line” of ecological crises have succeeded in influencing climate policies and promoting sustainable models.
The second section, “Frameworks of Possibility”, addresses the moral and emotional aspects of the climate crisis, exploring how psychology, ethics and culture can support or hinder climate action. The articles in this section examine in turn the emotional and psychological impact of the climate crisis, and ethical and cultural frameworks for understanding and acting on it. They begin by identifying and describing the feelings of despair, fear and loss felt by those engaged in the fight against climate change, as well as strategies for transforming these emotions into positive motivations. Particularly poignant are the reflections on how to deal with the grief and anguish associated with environmental destruction.
But it is above all the importance of adopting an ethical and cultural perspective on climate that is highlighted, with emphasis on climate justice, the rights of indigenous peoples and the need to rethink our relationship with nature and consumption. These essays thus argue for an integrated vision of social and environmental justice, where actions for the climate are also actions for equity and justice.
After demonstrating its technical feasibility, and detailing the roadmap to the creation of a political narrative around the fight against climate change, the authors embarks on a foresight exercise, aiming to paint desirable futures. They offers readers positive and inspiring visions of a post-fossil-fuel world. Several contributions take the form of utopian narratives where human communities live in harmony with nature, using clean technologies and sustainable practices to ensure a prosperous future. Always playing simultaneously on logos and pathos, these visions are also envisaged as plans, projects, offering detailed descriptions of societies that have succeeded in eliminating carbon emissions while creating thriving, just economies. Other contributions choose to highlight current initiatives and projects that demonstrate that positive change is already underway. These inspiring stories show how innovative policies, dynamic social movements and clean technologies can transform our world, illustrating that the future we want is not only possible, but already under construction.
In conclusion, Not Too Late is an effective manifesto for mobilizing people around the new climate issue of our time: it is no longer about convincing of the reality of climate change, but about convincing of the interest and need to act, without giving up, whatever the news or past trends. The authors present an accessible, easy-to-read collection that combines reflection on action with real-life experience of climate anxiety. Between inspiring stories and concrete solutions, they succeed in walking the tightrope between urgency, the scale of the crisis, and renewed hope and action. Through varied and profound contributions, this book offers a roadmap for a just and sustainable transition, while emphasizing that success will depend on our ability to mobilize and act collectively, integrating values of justice and solidarity into our fight for the climate.
Those looking for another rigorous and exhaustive analysis of climate damages or possible solutions will be disappointed. For a manifesto is not intended to achieve the precision of an economics textbook. But it does provide a strong, motivating voice, magnified by the style of Rebecca Solnit, a welcome breath of fresh air for anyone interested in the climate crisis. And for anyone who, in their work or as a citizen, is led to question the meaning, impact or necessity of their actions. Who knows? Perhaps this book arrives just in time to inspire – among all the possible forms of engagement – new vocations for climate economists ?
Louis Soumoy, 1st year PhD student
[1] Solnit, R. and Young Lutunatabua, T., (2023). Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, ed. Haymarket Books, pp 232.