Jonathon Porritt’s Hope in Hell: A Book Review
Desperate times call for desperate measures, an aphorism which Sir Jonathon Porritt CBE ably applies here as the title for his book, ‘Hope in Hell,’ a clarion call to action and a concerted effort to counter the catastrophic consequences of climate change in just a few short years. It is quite a clarion call, but it would be a call well worth listening to.
Sir Jonathon’s clarion may be summed up briefly by two powerful quotes from the book, the first being:
“It has long been a bug bear of mine that so many environmentalists remain blind to the grotesque inequality that scars our world, and that so many campaigners for social justice remain blind to the collapse of our natural world. Social justice and climate justice are two sides of the same coin; always have been and always will be.”
Elsewhere he writes:
“The FAO is more and more aware of this, and has shown that one of the reasons for Asia’s very high rate of soil degradation has been continuing deforestation, particularly in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and now Myanmar. But this is a global phenomenon. How many more times will we have to read of devastating landslides or mud-slips caused by deforestation in the surrounding hills? Much of that deforestation is caused by people desperate to find enough land for themselves and their families on the edge of existing towns and cities.”
In other words, the magnitude of the climate change challenge is such that the only fitting response is, “All hands on deck!” We only have less than ten years left to turn things around.
However, if I have any criticism of Hope in Hell, it is this: in Sir Jonathon’s effort to make vivid the urgency of the climate emergency before us, he, alas, put more into the mill than it could grind. The book is pregnant with much data and facts. A little food cooked in terms of a narrative, simply put, is better for dinner than a great joint raw, an oversight that is perfectly understandable considering the dire straits we’re in. I forgive the slip-up.
It has now been four years since Hope in Hell was first published. It has since been revised. Hope in Hell: A Decade to Confront the Climate Emergency is just as relevant today as it was when it was first published. The meat of this book is its focus on young people. Young people are the ones who are most disproportionately affected by the climate emergency. Based on what I have read, I don’t think there is anyone who cares about social justice and climate justice who would not benefit from this book. I wholeheartedly recommend the book.
I accordingly give Hope in Hell an 8.5 out of 10.
Finally, please take a moment to listen to Sir Jonathon talk about his book, Hope in Hell, in a podcast interview entitled, Climate Change: The New Apocalypse.
