This Changes Everything | Book by Naomi Klein

Having read PostCapitalism and Doughnut Economics, I was feeling convinced about the need for a massive shift in our economic theory. Doughnut Economics provides a comprehensive overview of the changes that need to be made, with convincing arguments that should appeal to the vast majority of people. But it’s clear that some incredibly large barriers stand in the way of making that change happen — a political system built entirely around our broken economic theory and a fossil fuel industry which plans to push us into climate disaster.

This Changes Everything looks closely at these barriers, acknowledges their enormity and then provides a detailed analysis of successes so far. It provides an incredibly inspiring message — not only have different movements had success in making change happen, but these separate movements are actually all fighting for the same thing.

This message feels very, very important. We’ve been taught to act as individuals, searching for a way to maximise our own wealth. We’re alienated from one another, making it really difficult to see our common ground. And the message is that actually, we all want the same thing. If we want to protect the environment, we also need to reduce inequality (because how can we expect those who are extremely poor to care about their carbon emissions?). If we want to protect the environment, we also need to change our economic theory (because if greed is good, how can we expect fossil fuel companies to keep oil and gas in the ground?).

Many people recognise the need to fight inequality, but feel too detached from the problem to see how they can take action. But when you understand that protecting your local environment means protecting our global environment… and that protecting our global environment must involve reducing inequality… suddenly it all starts to make sense.