Jonathon Porritt

I wasn't sure how this book would be to read but it drew me in with the stories of the young people involved in Just Stop Oil. Each of the 20+ young people's stories is heard, their activism, their motivations, their influences. Some of them were in prison when the book was written in 2025, many of their stories were heartbreaking, there was no doubt about their dedication to fighting the climate crisis and I felt grateful to them for giving their lives for the fight. Jonathon Porritt gives show more a good overview of non-violent direct action over the years and the events that took us to the crushing restrictions on protests in the UK today. I have no doubt that protests that I was involved in during the 1990s would lead to an arrest today, the laws are so draconian. He discusses anger, his own and the lack of anger the young activists felt. His writing is a narrative through chapters and it is interspersed with words from the young people. Some of these were so moving I was in tears. This was a much better book than I imagined it would be. show less

This was just what I needed to recover from reading about the Eastern Front of the Second World War. To balance the horrors of the past, consider the positive possibilities of the future. Porritt’s book is a future history, purportedly written in 2050 by a UK school teacher. The format is that of a multi-chapter school report or textbook - which might make it sound less fun than it is. I found the text engaging and the images appealing. 2050 as envisioned here is by no means perfect and show more the relatively stable world has been arrived at via serious disasters; extreme weather, famine, and antibiotic-resistant TB outbreaks. Nonetheless, this is Porritt’s best case scenario. The world has turned away from fossil fuels and an obsession with GDP growth. Carbon emissions have fallen very significantly and ecosystems are recovering, whilst people live longer, happier, and more meaningful lives.

Although I enjoyed the future history, the book isn’t complete until you’ve also read Porritt’s notes and references on each chapter at the end. This really emphasises the distance society and politics has to travel to reach a better 2050, whilst retaining a cautious optimism about the possibilities. Moreover, Porritt admits to a certain techno-utopianism that I found throughout the book. Of course, it is easier to colourfully portray technological developments in comparison to political and cultural changes. The politics of the book are cautiously radical, despite a certain ambivalence about China’s regime. Although I don’t personally agree with the strength of opposition to nuclear power advanced in the book, it’s a perfectly defensible perspective. Everyone has a slightly different vision of how a better future might work. The most important thing is to consider that such a future is possible, rather than falling into the fatalism of ‘climate change is too expensive to deal with, so let’s just ignore it and wreck the planet until we die’. It makes a nice change to find some cautious optimism, backed with detailed suggestions. The main quibble I have with the book is the over-use of the phrase ‘got it sorted’. This is an uplifting and encouraging read, definitely recommended if the media and politics are giving you a creeping sense of fatalism about climate change. The future needn't be disastrous. show less

My verdict: Interesting. It is a fictive non-fiction book. A history teacher, moving on to a new job and doing a last project with his class: Writing down the history of the last 50 years and how the world has changed. The twist: He does this project being 50 years old in the year 2050.

I am sure if you take this book apart and look at the technical details and figures and things you will find many things which might not make sense. Which might not be possible like this. But the book really show more reads like a non-fiction book about the last 50 years history. It is a perfect write. No literature highlight.

I like this book because it is a positive book. It describes a world where a lot - not all - of our problems of today have been fixed. I would love to live in the world described in this book. Will we ever? I don't know. The main roadblock I see is in the human mentality. A lot of solutions described in this book rely on us humans waking up, putting our drive for profit aside and fixing stuff. Will this ever going to happen?

I gave it 4 stars just simply for a book well written and a book which makes hope. show less

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