Fighting in a World on Fire: The Next Generation's Guide to Protecting the Climate and Saving Our Future

by Andreas Malm, Jimmy Whipps (Adapted by), Llewyn Whipps (Editor)

Overview

An argument for bold action to halt climate destruction, adapted for young people from Andreas Malm’s best-selling book

Young people are inheriting a world of climate catastrophe. Young people are also one of the strongest forces leading movements for climate justice, and to halt the fossil fuel emissions that are making our Earth unlivable.
 
As Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for the Future movement have made clear, solutions offered by adults are far too little, far too late: the measures in unenforceable international agreements won’t halt our reliance on fossil fuels, or take the drastic steps humans need to take in order to keep our planet livable.

What kinds of drastic steps are needed? What kind of bold actions can the climate justice movement begin using to bring a stop to climate destruction, and that can be employed alongside existing strategies of mass protest, awareness, and legal appeals? Why does our society consider profit for oil companies more important than the future of young people and the health of our shared environment?

In this adaptation of Andreas Malm’s best-selling book on the need for a bolder, more confrontational climate justice movement, these urgent questions are brought to the most important audience of all: those who are growing up in a world on fire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781804291252
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	495,483
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.24(h) x 0.71(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Andreas Malm is a scholar of human ecology, and the author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency, The Progress of this Storm, and Fossil Capital, which won the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize.

Jimmy Whipps is a lifetime resident of Portland, Oregon. He enjoyed a twenty-year career in education, primarily as a middle school social sciences teacher. He has been involved in a variety of actions, marches, and protests.

Llewyn Whipps is a habitat restoration practitioner working primarily on Kalapuyan land. They attended their first protest as an elementary schooler, with their father Jimmy. They have been a participant in the climate movement since their early twenties, joining fights for fossil fuel divestment, against industrial logging, and to stop oil trains and drill rigs.

Editorial Reviews

"Reading this brilliant book I found myself underlining whole passages, ticking repeatedly in the margins and inwardly cheering. Every school library should buy a copy. Every concerned parent should make sure their children have access to it."
—Tom Tolkien, School Reading List

"The intensity and urgency of the need for meaningful climate action comes through loud and clear...This book has two goals: to provoke strong reactions and to create committed activists. Readers will find much to think about."
—Booklist

"Four hefty chapters chart a progressive path for a young would-be environmental activist, with information presented through a global lens...A persuasive, if provocative, polemic tackling an important subject."
—Kirkus Reviews

"A YA adaptation of a controversial missive on climate activism that encourages drastic measures to save the planet's-and this generation's-future. It focuses on why past movements haven't been sufficient to change the tide in environmental justice; nonviolence and civil disobedience are just not enough."
—School Library Journal

"I would recommend Fighting in a World on Fire to any young activist looking to learn more about the climate movement. It serves a great purpose as an introductory book into not only the world of the climate movement, but also reading political books in general."
—Dylan Williams, Socialist Worker

From the Publisher

01/01/2023

Gr 10 Up—A YA adaptation of a controversial missive on climate activism that encourages drastic measures to save the planet's—and this generation's—future. It focuses on why past movements haven't been sufficient to change the tide in environmental justice; nonviolence and civil disobedience are just not enough. The author explains that many movements became successful once they began employing practices like property violence, riots, and self-defense. These include suffragettes Emmeline Pankurst and her daughters, civil rights activists SNCC, and anti-apartheid Spear of the Nation. Recent movements that readers will be familiar with include the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock and the Arab Spring. Though the structure and information is the same as the original, this edition attempts to give substantial background to make its arguments more accessible to young people. Frequent inserts define core concepts and are set off by gray boxes. Terms include divestment and fossil capital. They sometimes take up more than two pages. However, the definitions are important, because otherwise, young readers will find this difficult to digest. The work is most engaging when presenting past activist movements that centered around the work of young people and marginalized communities. Black-and-white photos, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading are also featured. VERDICT A general purchase for curricular tie-in as needed.—Shelley M. Diaz

School Library Journal

2022-12-14
What can young people do to protect the climate and safeguard their futures?

Swedish scholar Malm’s provocative 2021 book, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, is adapted here for a teen audience. Four hefty chapters chart a progressive path for a young would-be environmental activist, with information presented through a global lens. “The Problem With Business-as-Usual” both explains the current sad situation and begins the argument for an activism that goes beyond peaceful protests. “Learning From Past Struggles” looks at previous social movements as possible templates for action. These include Gandhi and anti-colonialism, Iran in the 1970s, and the U.S. civil rights movement. “Breaking the Spell” unpacks the moral implications and effectiveness of tactics like pipeline demolition and other acts of sabotage, such as deflating the tires of SUVs, a strategy espoused by the Tyre Extinguishers, a group founded in the U.K. Finally, “Fighting Despair” makes a strong and cogent case for hope despite the prevalent dire predictions about climate. Sidebars peppered throughout highlight individual components of the movement, like the youth-led group Fridays for Future founded by Greta Thunberg in 2018 and the Standing Rock protests. There are also many compelling black-and-white photographs, and a series of discussion questions concludes each chapter. All these features increase accessibility for a younger readership, though many of the author’s views are controversial.

A persuasive, if provocative, polemic tackling an important subject. (organizations and resources, writing prompts and discussion questions, image credits) (Nonfiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews