Reading for climate justice this Christmas: A review of 'It's not that Radical' by Mikaela Loach

In my years working as a bookseller I was often struck by how many books were labelled ‘best seller’ or ‘the most important book of the year’ or, my personal favourite, ‘THIS is a book people are reading’ (ok, yeah, that’s the point!). Indeed, nearly every book in the shop had been labelled ‘essential reading’ by somebody. In this article, I’m going to review a book that I genuinely believe to be necessary reading – It’s Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World, by Mikaela Loach (2023).

If you haven’t heard of it yet, congratulations – you just found what to read over Christmas – and if you have, keep reading, there’s lots of other book recommendations at the end of this article to similarly inform and inspire you to get organising. Afterall, there are so many incredible educational and motivating resources out there to inform our efforts in fighting climate change and societal inequality, and the book, podcast, documentary or speech that makes all the jigsaw pieces fall into place and drive us to action, will vary for each of us. I’m reviewing It’s Not That Radical (INTR) because I hope it will be that resource for you.

**What is It’s Not That Radical about?**

At its core, INTR is a call to arms – it’s an invitation to everyone to begin to take action to demand climate justice to radically transform our societies, and our world, and it sets out all there is to gain in doing so.

Loach acknowledges that ‘[f]or far too long, the climate movement has tried to scare, inform, or guilt people into action. None of this has been effective enough…what we really need is motivation’ – so, this she provides. Countering the narrative peddled by fossil fuel companies and promoted by billionaire newspaper/media owners that decarbonising society, retrofitting homes or degrowth, would mean mass unemployment and the collapse of civil society, Loach explains that actually, ‘[r]ather than all of us being required to have ‘less’ we could instead have more: warmer homes, better healthcare, more free time and shorter work weeks, accessible and healthier food, universal basic income, lower energy bills’, as well as significant health improvements brought by relaxing our dependence of fossil fuels. To achieve some of these possibilities though, would require us to radically overhaul our current energy and economic system and look instead to other options, such as degrowth, and to do this requires strategic organising, a large degree of active hope, and radical imagination – concepts explained and championed in INTR.

Indeed INTR is a book premised on active hope. This is the idea that hope isn’t something we wait for, but something we make ourselves, by organising and taking strategic action within our communities to improve current systems and demand care and justice for all. And INTR questions perceptions of what really is radical? By doing so it challenges the current media narrative where ‘those calling for change are often painted as harmful, rather than those who work to continue the world as it currently is’ – full of exploitation, inequality and harm.

To this end, Loach encourages ‘radical imagination’, to reframe what we perceive as possible, because the time for system reform and incremental climate mitigation measures is over. In Loach’s own words ‘we have to imagine and demand the most transformative ‘radical’ ideas – knowing we might not get those met any time soon – so that what we do achieve is as close to it as is actually possible. If we settle for less in what we are demanding , then our ideas just get toned down even more and the result is pulled even further away than what is actually needed’. Indeed, as we have seen most recently at COP29, Global North states will always dilute and delay from acting on the scale and rapidity required. For example at COP29, rich countries committed to give just $300 billion a year by 2035 to the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) – a fund intended to facilitate sustainable development and climate adaptation measures in Global South states. The figure required, and explicitly demanded by Global South states who are the most vulnerable to climate disasters and the least responsible for climate change, was in the trillions.

INTR is more than just a call to action however, it is also a highly researched, informative and accessible resource on the inherent connections between the manifest crises we are facing – climate collapse, systemic racism, health and wealth inequality, overconsumption, biodiversity crisis, a dysfunctional carceral system – who is to blame and how to hold them to account, the necessity of imagining an economic model beyond capitalism, and pragmatic reflections on organising strategically and sustainably.

Perhaps the feature that most distinguishes INTR from other popular climate justice books is Loach’s call to tackle issues at their very root – the original meaning of the word radical, from the latin ‘radix’. Loach challenges the idea that the climate crisis is the ‘great equaliser’, writing ‘in reality, it is the great multiplier. It enhances existing inequalities and oppression and, more than that, it’s a product of the same systems that created and inflicted inequality and oppression in the first place.’ Loach emphasises the need to incorporate racial justice into the very foundations of climate campaigns. In her own words, ‘We simply cannot talk about the climate crisis without interrogating white supremacy…without acknowledgment of racism without inclusion of racial justice into our climate action, our climate actions are incomplete’.

In the chapter ‘Beyond White Environmentalism’ Loach expounds how white supremacy has not only caused the climate crisis through colonialism creating the ‘blueprint for the extractivism’, ‘exploitation, detachment from nature, devaluing of life and violence’ still employed by fossil fuel companies today, but has also ‘made our [climate] movements sick by exclusion and silencing the voices of those most impacted by this crisis’ through its manifestation in white environmentalism. They emphasise the need for balance between the creation of safe, ‘regenerative organising spaces’ for BIPOC people to mobilise together, and for mainstream organising spaces to diversify and become safer and more-antiracist.

Pragmatic and insightful advice on organising, based on both their personal experiences and research into social reproduction theory is another key aspect of INTR. This is useful whether you are entirely new to this space, or a seasoned campaigner: from calling for increased diversity of perspectives in organizing groups, decentralising leadership by having multiple members with leadership skills, the importance of recognising how deeply our lives and struggles are related, and guarding against perfectionism in activism. Loach writes ‘We really do need everyone to do whatever they can, however they can. We really need a multiplicity of tactics’, and the more people get involved, she notes, the more sustainable the workload becomes for everyone.

A tall pile of climate justice books on a chequered white and yellow table cloth. In the middle of the pile is Its Not That Radical by Mikaela Loach — A pile of climate justice books on a chequered white and yellow table cloth. Image credit: Elizabeth Rose

Who is the author?

Mikaela Loach is a climate justice organiser, author and a co-founder of the AWETHU School of Organising – an educational initiative on Climate Justice and Black Liberation. She holds a degree in Global Health Policy, and has also studied medicine. It’s Not That Radical is her first book, though her latest book Climate Is Just The Start is available for pre-order now.

**Why should you read INTR and what could you take from it?**

Whether you’re a seasoned climate justice campaigner, have signed a few petitions but never taken direct action, or are new here and really not sure where to begin, INTR is for you. It packs a series of powerful lessons into a comprehensive yet conversational and concise, instructive volume. It clearly identifies causation, attributes blame, and sets out what we need to do next: from joining and organising with trade unions, resisting new fossil fuel projects locally however we can, community cleans, campaigning for home insulation, heat pump regulations, and the provision of infrastructure to give individuals the choice of living sustainably rather than being forced into fossil-fuel intensive consumption for lack of options. If you care deeply about climate justice but haven’t found a way to frame these issues in a way that family and friends can fully understand – recommend INTR to them.

Drawing on lots of research and insightful personal observations INTR is an accessible call to action to all and – if you’ve yet to take climate action yourself – I hope it galvanises you. Because, as Loach writes

‘Every action we take will contribute to the movement, whether you see it or not. It will contribute to inevitable tipping points. The more people we have actively working towards a better world, the sooner we’ll get there. Every fraction of a degree of warming that we can prevent matters. Every single fraction of a degree is lives saved. Every single action we take is so, so worth it’.

Indeed, as Loach explains:

‘The main intention of this book is to move you into action. By action, I mean engaging in mobilising people and actively building campaigns to fight for climate justice – for example, by organising as a community to campaign against new fossil fuel projects’ …
Don’t limit your “work” to just learning and reading and understanding more. Whilst all of this is important, we have to focus on impact too…This work isn’t about reaching individual enlightenment or self-improvement. We have to do what good politics asks of us: join movements and actively organise for a liberated future’ ….
True belief in a new world requires us to take action to build it. It requires us to organise in our communities. It requires us to become active participants in building revolutionary change.’

Be Curious

Do you know the name of your local climate group? Could you join them at their next action? And, if no one is organising near you, could you bring a small group of people together?
Check out some of the books recommended above on climate justice – see if you can find them second hand on World of Books, at your local independent bookshop or at Bookshop.org.
Ask yourself ‘what are my skills?’ and ‘How can I bring them to the movement?’ Whether you’re a writer, organiser, speaker, artist, mathematician, nurse or lawyer – there is a place for you and your skills in climate organising and you are needed! Identify your skills and bring them to the fight for a better future. You can find local volunteering opportunities here.
Use the activist resource hub and Tipping Point’s Movement Power Zine to learn more about effective organising!
If you’re already actively organising for climate justice, could you start a conversation with someone who isn’t to see if they will join you for your next action?

Featured image by Elizabeth Rose

Reading for climate justice this Christmas: A review of ‘It’s not that Radical’ by Mikaela Loach

**What is It’s Not That Radical about?**

Who is the author?

**Why should you read INTR and what could you take from it?**

Recommended reading

Be Curious

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