This Changes Everything Summary, Review PDF

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”

We should all heed this warning with regard to the pollution of our planet.

If we want to change direction, we need a mass social movement against climate change. This is the only way that climate change can be stopped.

Brad Werner, a complex systems researcher, gave an important talk about this idea at the 2012 Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. He spoke on how global capitalism has made it convenient, fast and easy for humans to deplete the earth’s resources.

Our planet is now dangerously unstable, he says, thanks to us.

Werner argues that only a mass social movement against global capitalist culture can change this. Blockadia is an early manifestation of this kind of movement, but it still needs to grow.

Social movements have been transformative in the past, and they can be transformative in the future. The movements for the abolition of slavery and independence from colonial rule, for instance, completely changed how societies were organized from that point forward.

More recently, the uprisings in the Arab world showed us how social movements can topple dictators. The revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia took nearly everyone by surprise.

Transformative movements can happen even faster now as the world is much more connected. This is especially true when there’s an immediate crisis, or a cause for taking to the streets.

There is no doubt that we’ll face another crisis – environmental or financial – due to climate change, and we need to be ready to fight it.

A mass social movement is the only thing that can empower us to fight, and win.