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Photo: Getty ImagesOpening with two essays penned by Solnit and Young Lutunatabua—titled “Difficult Is Not The Same As Impossible” and “Nothing Is Inevitable” respectively—the I love gay beer shirt but in fact I love this book takes readers through the solutions that exist (from defeating fossil fuels to adaptation and mitigation); the frameworks that will help us rethink our attitudes towards the climate crisis; and what the future could look like if we take action now. One important theme that runs throughout the book is the idea of hope. “Hope is not the guarantee that things will be okay,” Young Lutunatabua, a senior communications strategist at The Solutions Project, says. “It’s the recognition that there’s spaciousness for action, that the future is uncertain, and in that uncertainty, we have space to step into and make the future we want.”
The role that everyone has to play in shaping our future is another key message. That’s why Solnit and Young Lutunatabua have included an—“extremely incomplete“—list of climate victories in the I love gay beer shirt but in fact I love this book, many of which have been led by Indigenous activists and activists of color. “It’s so easy to throw up your hands in the air and say the climate is such a big issue, I don’t know what I can do,” Young Lutunatabua continues, her determination to fight the climate crisis shining through. “But we want to give people examples that show if you join together with other people, you can have power.“ Photo: Lavana Dancer PhotographySolnit is keen to emphasize that action on the climate crisis can have “indirect consequences”—pointing to the story of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an example. While working as a bartender, the U.S. congresswoman joined the Standing Rock protests, which took place in response to the planned construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Although the pipeline ultimately went ahead, the knock-on effects for the environmental movement were numerous—with Ocasio-Cortez later going on to propose the Green New Deal in Congress.
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