anna_ealasaid reviewed Climate Change Is Racist by Jeremy Williams
Review of 'Climate Change Is Racist' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is a brilliant introduction to the concept of 'climate justice' - how the people least responsible for the causes of climate crisis are most affected by it - and how climate justice in inextricable from racial justice.
Although as a climate activist I was already familiar with most of the arguments and theories the book puts forward, it is a really helpful summary with lots of useful facts quoted (and a devastating chart) that I know I'll go back to. I also hope to get a few copies to lend to family and friends who care about climate change, but aren't yet familiar with how 'the climate crisis is a racist crisis' (BLM UK, 2016). There are twelve short chapters, with a good balance of statistics, quotes from lived experience, social theory, and personal reflection.
I wanted to read 'Climate Change is Racist' because of the provocative--but very true--title, …
This is a brilliant introduction to the concept of 'climate justice' - how the people least responsible for the causes of climate crisis are most affected by it - and how climate justice in inextricable from racial justice.
Although as a climate activist I was already familiar with most of the arguments and theories the book puts forward, it is a really helpful summary with lots of useful facts quoted (and a devastating chart) that I know I'll go back to. I also hope to get a few copies to lend to family and friends who care about climate change, but aren't yet familiar with how 'the climate crisis is a racist crisis' (BLM UK, 2016). There are twelve short chapters, with a good balance of statistics, quotes from lived experience, social theory, and personal reflection.
I wanted to read 'Climate Change is Racist' because of the provocative--but very true--title, I was initially a bit put off to read that that the author Jeremy Williams is a white middle-class man, but he makes the excellent point that although he questioned whether it is was "his" book to write, he realised that white people have a duty to address the impacts of structural racism and white privilege, rather than seeing it as the 'problem' of people of colour. The books manages to avoid 'white saviorism' while also emphasising the importance of personal responsibility (the topic of the last chapter) in the wake of these interrelated crises. And while it's important that white people who 'care about climate change' listen to people who don't look like us, whose lives may be very different to ours, this book is a great place to start for those new to these ideas, or in need of a refresher.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy via Netgalley.
