The Optimistic Environmentalist by David R. Boyd

It was a pretty easy book to get through (given the topic).Īll around it was a pretty excellent book. Not only was the argument good, but this book is pretty short (around 200 pages) and the author writes in an accessible and interesting way that can engage people who aren't even that interested in environmentalism in the first place. This book revealed some of the great changes we (as humans) are making, described optimistic ideas and solutions for the future, showed we have the capability to deal with these problems and actually do something meaningful, and was more uplifting than the average book on the environment. However, Boyd delivered on his claim that we should be more optimistic. I was open-minded, but deep down expecting an unimpressive argument of tiny changes some places have made that are insignificant but can be spun to be hopeful.

Environmentalism is one of the social movements defined by how serious and bad the state of the world is in right now and how much worse it's going to get in the future. Optimistic and environmentalist in the same sentence?! I don't think so. chronicles these remarkable success stories and suggests a bright green future is not only possible, but within our grasp.” (Boyd, 0).Īt first I was skeptical. But the surprisingly good news is that a remarkable number of environmental problems have been solved, while substantial progress is ongoing on others. The author summarizes the essence of The Optimistic Environmentalist at the beginning, “Yes, the world faces substantial environmental challenges-climate change, pollution, and extinction.

The Optimistic Environmentalist by David R. Boyd