This Changes Everything

Naomi Klein, the author of this book, is a Canadian political writer and social activist, famous for her work on globalisation and late capitalism, in particular her ground-breaking book No Logo(1999), which won her international acclaim. No Logo offers a critique of consumer culture and global capitalism. Her political perspective throughout her work, and in the current text,This Changes Everything,could be characterised as progressive and of the left, but not in the traditional sense of the term. Klein is a writer of what has sometimes been called part of the “New Left,”a movement that puts the emphasis on local, grassroots struggles and resists centralising narratives and concepts. This is reflected here, in that she doesn’t dwell on the roles of traditional political parties in the struggle against climate change. Klein remains one of the most influential intellectual voices of her generationand continues to campaign for the social and environmental causes described above.

It’s fair to say that Klein is not a neutral or disengaged author-figure in this book. True to the activist spirit of her politics, her personal experience and political perspective figures directly in these pages. Her approach throughout is one that repeatedly celebrates grassroots campaigning and those who are grounded in struggle and love for the earth, and critiques the distant “astronaut’s view” of climate change.