You may have heard some troubling things about global warming; have they left you distraught and feeling helpless? Ignition may help to put some wind back in your sails. This book has everything you need to make a difference, whether you are a student, a businessperson, a communications professional, or simply part of any organization (and really who isn’t part of something!?).
First off, the cover will WOW you. It’s orange, red and yellow (fits in with ignition/flame/spark thing). Some of us do judge books by their cover, and Ignition’s design made me want to grab the book and dive right in.
The book is divided into: “It’s Time”, “Finding Your Voice”, “Finding Your Allies”, “Getting Mobilized”, and “Getting Results”. It’s organised in a logical way, and written in an entertaining enough manner that you’re not bored half to death by page 5.
It begins by touching on the fear and despair surrounding many of us toward the environment, but quickly introduces the idea of the need for a new “groundswell” to “ignite the spark that can set off a period of rapid change through changing the perception of climate change so that they come alive with the immediacy required” to act. Ignition then tells you how to create a groundswell using four kinds of key players:
Once you have your key players in place, Ignition takes you through the eight stages of successful social movements. You’ll have to read the book yourself to get all eight of them (well, you don’t think we’re going to give all the good stuff away do you?!), but here’s an example: Step Two is “Proving the Failure or Limitation of Existing Institutions”.
Ignition also discusses the interesting process of what people think to how people think in order to ensure the movement players use the necessary tactics to reach the critical people for change. Another key part of any movement that Ignition describes is the importance of framing your issue effectively to ensure it reaches your target audience.
Providing context, Ignitionlays out the history of activist movements in the U.S., as well as movements surrounding global warming to date, and touches on how different groups, such as religious organizations, businesses, lawyers, can pick up the climate torch as their own and run with it. Ignition also raises the importance of changing the internal perceptions of the environment of companies and organizations before turning efforts outward.
Ignition is a good read for both getting the history of environmental movements and for using as tactical support for creating your own change.
My only bone to pick with this book is that it is clearly written with an American audience in mind in terms of the history of different movements and the climate struggle. However, the general tactics and principles of creating change are highly relevant to any audience.
Tags: activist, global warming, Ignition
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