With much of the country experiencing record-high temperatures, natural disasters, or other unusual weather events, talking about how to mitigate climate change seems not only timely but essential. In this hands-on, encouraging book, Kent-Hughes (Career Crisis Plan) describes how individuals and organizations can take action to make meaningful progress toward solving the climate crisis. He starts by outlining the severity of the problem, but he doesn’t dwell on doom— instead he offers positive examples showing that when people take action, real change can occur. “Positive change never comes from submission, resignation, or despair. By acting now, we can be less worried about the future and know that we are playing our part in making the world a better place.”

When it comes to solutions, Kent-Hughes offers suggestions that are achievable for most people, which is important in an overtaxing world where everyone is already overwhelmed. Mobilizing a team, for instance, starts simply by having open and honest conversations with family, friends, and neighbors about climate change and reducing emissions. The action items are also broken down into digestible categories—food, production and consumption, energy, and transportation—allowing people to consider their role in the problem and create specific goals. To streamline this process even more, Kent-Hughes provides easy-to-understand graphs, charts, and to-do lists and encourages evaluation of objectives based on the SMART criteria.

For those interested in diving deeper into climate change causes and solutions, Kent-Hughes offers several appendices with more information, as well as the lengthy list of sources he consulted for this book. Sections detailing what he personally has done to change his lifestyle demonstrate that making a difference doesn’t require perfection or grand gestures. It simply necessitates a sustained commitment to doing better and small changes that help make a huge problem seem more manageable.

Takeaway: An encouraging action plan for individuals and organizations in the face of the climate crisis.

Great for fans of: Charles F. Sabel and David G. Victor’s Fixing the Climate, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac’s The Future We Choose.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A