Eco-Anxiety

March 7, 2022
“The climate emergency is the biggest challenge of our time, and we all have a unique role to play. My mission is to help you find yours,” writes White, founder of the OneGreenThing nonprofit, in her incisive debut. The author lays most of the blame for climate change on large corporations, but nonetheless notes that individual actions can create real and beneficial change. Her plan for doing so consists of “laws of change”—these include the Law of Simplicity & Consistency, which holds that simple daily habit changes are “more likely to stick,” and the Law of Amplification, which explains that “sharing experiences makes change reverberate.” She then lays out “service superpowers,” which take into account one’s strengths, and suggests actions for various personality types: there’s the “adventurer,” for example, who can go fishing with friends, as well as lobby Congress, and “the sage,” who can encourage their faith community to install solar panels. It’s a fun conceit, and each chapter features a summary of takeaways and journal prompts; the bite-sized profiles of “eco-heroes” sprinkled through, including those of Mustafa Santiago Ali, Kristal Ambrose, and Gigi Lee Chang, are a nice touch. Readers just starting to think about their role in mitigating climate change should take a look.