What do you think?
Rate this book
A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal
In the twenty-first century, all politics are climate politics.
The age of climate gradualism is over, as unprecedented disasters are exacerbated by inequalities of race and class. We need profound, radical change. A Green New Deal can tackle the climate emergency and rampant inequality at the same time. Cutting carbon emissions while winning immediate gains for the many is the only way to build a movement strong enough to defeat big oil, big business, and the super-rich—starting right now.
A Planet to Win explores the political potential and concrete first steps of a Green New Deal. It calls for dismantling the fossil fuel industry and building beautiful landscapes of renewable energy, guaranteeing climate-friendly work and no-carbon housing and free public transit. And it shows how a Green New Deal in the United States can strengthen climate justice movements worldwide. We don’t make politics under conditions of our own choosing, and no one would choose this crisis. But crises also present opportunities. We stand on the brink of disaster—but also at the cusp of wondrous, transformative change.
The age of climate gradualism is over, as unprecedented disasters are exacerbated by inequalities of race and class. We need profound, radical change. A Green New Deal can tackle the climate emergency and rampant inequality at the same time. Cutting carbon emissions while winning immediate gains for the many is the only way to build a movement strong enough to defeat big oil, big business, and the super-rich—starting right now.
A Planet to Win explores the political potential and concrete first steps of a Green New Deal. It calls for dismantling the fossil fuel industry and building beautiful landscapes of renewable energy, guaranteeing climate-friendly work and no-carbon housing and free public transit. And it shows how a Green New Deal in the United States can strengthen climate justice movements worldwide. We don’t make politics under conditions of our own choosing, and no one would choose this crisis. But crises also present opportunities. We stand on the brink of disaster—but also at the cusp of wondrous, transformative change.
208 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2019
85 people are currently reading
2218 people want to read
About the author
Kate Aronoff
4 books47 followersKate Aronoff is a staff writer at The New Republic and author of Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet — And How We Fight Back. She is co-author of A Planet To Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal and co-editor of We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism—American Style. Follow her on Twitter @katearonoff.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
April 18, 2025
“Real Economy” for Whom?…
Preamble:
--It shouldn’t surprise you that I love this book, as it combines:
i) Synthesis of structural critiques/alternatives
ii) Accessible/engaging writing
--Note: Trump 2.0 mockingly derides the “Green New Scam”, so what alternative does Trump provide? I unpack this in the comments here: Angrynomics
Highlights:
--Thus, as we turn to the book, we should always consider cui bono? (“to whom is it a benefit?”) when we think about “the economy”.
1) “Faux” Green New Deal:
--The book summarizes why the liberal/reformist Green New Deal relying on tax/market price signals is insufficient in both:
i) addressing the climate crisis
ii) addressing social needs: appealing alternatives are not provided, since the point is to keep the status quo and just swap to green energy.
-ex. Obama's 2009 ARRA stimulus avoided connecting its clean energy investments (including subsidizing Musk's Tesla) to transformative social policies (ex. jobs program/housing rescue, see later).
2) “Radical” Green New Deal:
--To address both climate crisis and social needs, the focus is on public spending/regulation/coordination/building public political power, challenging Neoliberal austerity/rent-seeking by providing green energy/jobs/infrastructure.
--This is summarized in 4 components:
i) Fossil Fuels/Private Utilities:
--Supply-side: regulation (bans, ending subsidies) is essential here to wind down fossil fuel production and provide alternatives (esp. community ownership: People's Power: Reclaiming the Energy Commons). Also see: A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency
--Demand-side: pro-renewables standards/procurement rather than relying on carbon tax.
ii) Labour:
--Mend the divides between labour movement vs. environmentalism (thus, Green New Deal), taking inspiration from “Miners for Democracy” (Energy Citizenship: Coal and Democracy in the American Century) and Tony Mazzocchi’s “Just Transition”.
--As the Green New Deal takes inspiration from FDR’s “New Deal” response to the Great Depression, the book adds crucial lessons from the New Deal's errors:
-ex. racism:
a) FDR compromised with racist Democrats (Dixiecrats) which further entrenched Jim Crow segregation (The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America). This perpetuated divide-and-conquer of the entire labour movement.
b) Alternative: Du Bois’ “abolition democracy” of the Black Reconstruction. I might add that, despite the focus on class, Marx’s Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1 mentions:
a) FDR’s proposal of an Economic Bill of Rights (jobs guarantee etc.) still had a patriarchal bias of what the “working class” was (“industries or shops or farms or mines”).
b) Alternative: Coretta Scott King’s later proposal of jobs for social needs (esp. healthcare, education, i.e. centering rather than neglecting care work as the majority of the “working class”):
-Bullshit Jobs: A Theory details further synthesis with the patriarchal bias, work discipline, etc.
-The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values
iii) Built Environment:
--Energy: renewables are intermittent, so require building a horizontal integrated grid. Community engagement is central.
--Housing: this book references Red Vienna. We should add examples from Global South socialism.
--Public transportation
--Recreation: New Deal also made leisure/culture/arts a component.
iv) Global Supply Chain:
--Crucially, the book finishes by considering imperialism, given the centrality of conflict minerals in the Green New Deal transition.
--I’m assuming Thea Riofrancos wrote this section, since it summarizes her insightful book Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador detailing the contradictions between:
a) Resource Nationalism: relying on extraction and redistributing it for domestic needs
b) Frontlines Ecology/Post-Extractivism: esp. indigenous sovereignty
--There is mention of a useful context: 20th century not just as a binary Cold War (US vs. USSR) but also Global South decolonization, culminating in the NIEO (New International Economic Order) proposal:
-The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
-The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South
--In terms of actions, the book contrasts:
a) Nativism:
--This is the Reactionary Neoliberalism I detailed earlier regarding Trump 2.0, where scapegoating outsiders avoids domestic class conflict. Divide-and-rule/race-to-the-bottom competition will continue to suppress even the domestic “white” working class, who will still be subservient to capital.
b) Global solidarity:
--A concrete example given is how Neoliberalism’s global supply chain’s profit-seeking “efficiency” means it lacks resiliency (lack of redundancy), thus chokepoints for strikes. Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain
…This is similar to fossil capitalism’s vertical integration being disrupted by indigenous-led blockades: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
--On the question of how to build/demonstrate working-class power, there’s overlap with another recent Verso book (Bigger Than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism) where I added another alternative: financial payments strike, taking inspiration from Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present and Direct Action: An Ethnography.
Preamble:
--It shouldn’t surprise you that I love this book, as it combines:
i) Synthesis of structural critiques/alternatives
ii) Accessible/engaging writing
--Note: Trump 2.0 mockingly derides the “Green New Scam”, so what alternative does Trump provide? I unpack this in the comments here: Angrynomics
Highlights:
--Thus, as we turn to the book, we should always consider cui bono? (“to whom is it a benefit?”) when we think about “the economy”.
1) “Faux” Green New Deal:
--The book summarizes why the liberal/reformist Green New Deal relying on tax/market price signals is insufficient in both:
i) addressing the climate crisis
ii) addressing social needs: appealing alternatives are not provided, since the point is to keep the status quo and just swap to green energy.
-ex. Obama's 2009 ARRA stimulus avoided connecting its clean energy investments (including subsidizing Musk's Tesla) to transformative social policies (ex. jobs program/housing rescue, see later).
2) “Radical” Green New Deal:
--To address both climate crisis and social needs, the focus is on public spending/regulation/coordination/building public political power, challenging Neoliberal austerity/rent-seeking by providing green energy/jobs/infrastructure.
--This is summarized in 4 components:
i) Fossil Fuels/Private Utilities:
--Supply-side: regulation (bans, ending subsidies) is essential here to wind down fossil fuel production and provide alternatives (esp. community ownership: People's Power: Reclaiming the Energy Commons). Also see: A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency
--Demand-side: pro-renewables standards/procurement rather than relying on carbon tax.
ii) Labour:
--Mend the divides between labour movement vs. environmentalism (thus, Green New Deal), taking inspiration from “Miners for Democracy” (Energy Citizenship: Coal and Democracy in the American Century) and Tony Mazzocchi’s “Just Transition”.
--As the Green New Deal takes inspiration from FDR’s “New Deal” response to the Great Depression, the book adds crucial lessons from the New Deal's errors:
-ex. racism:
a) FDR compromised with racist Democrats (Dixiecrats) which further entrenched Jim Crow segregation (The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America). This perpetuated divide-and-conquer of the entire labour movement.
b) Alternative: Du Bois’ “abolition democracy” of the Black Reconstruction. I might add that, despite the focus on class, Marx’s Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1 mentions:
In the United States of America, every independent workers’ movement was paralysed as long as slavery disfigured a part of the republic. Labour in a white skin cannot emancipate itself where it is branded in a black skin. However, a new life immediately arose from the death of slavery. The first fruit of the American Civil War was the eight hours’ agitation […]-ex. sexism:
a) FDR’s proposal of an Economic Bill of Rights (jobs guarantee etc.) still had a patriarchal bias of what the “working class” was (“industries or shops or farms or mines”).
b) Alternative: Coretta Scott King’s later proposal of jobs for social needs (esp. healthcare, education, i.e. centering rather than neglecting care work as the majority of the “working class”):
-Bullshit Jobs: A Theory details further synthesis with the patriarchal bias, work discipline, etc.
-The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values
iii) Built Environment:
--Energy: renewables are intermittent, so require building a horizontal integrated grid. Community engagement is central.
--Housing: this book references Red Vienna. We should add examples from Global South socialism.
--Public transportation
--Recreation: New Deal also made leisure/culture/arts a component.
iv) Global Supply Chain:
--Crucially, the book finishes by considering imperialism, given the centrality of conflict minerals in the Green New Deal transition.
--I’m assuming Thea Riofrancos wrote this section, since it summarizes her insightful book Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador detailing the contradictions between:
a) Resource Nationalism: relying on extraction and redistributing it for domestic needs
b) Frontlines Ecology/Post-Extractivism: esp. indigenous sovereignty
--There is mention of a useful context: 20th century not just as a binary Cold War (US vs. USSR) but also Global South decolonization, culminating in the NIEO (New International Economic Order) proposal:
-The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
-The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South
--In terms of actions, the book contrasts:
a) Nativism:
--This is the Reactionary Neoliberalism I detailed earlier regarding Trump 2.0, where scapegoating outsiders avoids domestic class conflict. Divide-and-rule/race-to-the-bottom competition will continue to suppress even the domestic “white” working class, who will still be subservient to capital.
b) Global solidarity:
--A concrete example given is how Neoliberalism’s global supply chain’s profit-seeking “efficiency” means it lacks resiliency (lack of redundancy), thus chokepoints for strikes. Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain
…This is similar to fossil capitalism’s vertical integration being disrupted by indigenous-led blockades: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
--On the question of how to build/demonstrate working-class power, there’s overlap with another recent Verso book (Bigger Than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism) where I added another alternative: financial payments strike, taking inspiration from Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present and Direct Action: An Ethnography.
November 21, 2019
Very interesting and incredibly detailed in certain areas. However, could have used less snark about urbanists, and more discussion of what "democratic planning" actually means.
Overall, it's kind of a "two cheers for New Hipster Socialism" for me. Despite the frequent invocation of democratic planning and diversity, there's some very retro twitchiness towards a "bigger-is-better"/Soviet futurism vision which doesn't leave much room for the local, the small, the particular. In the chapter on resources, the discussion on lithium mining goes on for a while (very admirably) about indigenous concerns in Chile and Bolivia.
However, what happens when people see all the benefits, are included in decision-making, and still say "no"? (this question applies far beyond this topic). The text seems to hint that no right-thinking person could possibly say no to a lot of the book's vision if it is just presented right - but that brings us back to the question of who decides and what "democratic planning" really means.
The new socialism has a decidedly ambivalent relationship to what could be called the "new anarchism" or the "anarchist squint", as James C. Scott calls it. From Occupy to Rojava to the burgeoning discourse on the commons, there are a world of alternatives other than market or state supremacy. It would be interesting if a follow-on to this book would more closely examine the question of what governance in this kind of world would look like - if, to use Naomi Klein's term, "Blockadia", not only had the kind of consultative voice that it is often allocated these days but could participate in actual governance. It would be nice, too, to examine the role of the "rights of nature" movement and the agency of non-human entities, be they animals or rivers. The new socialism seems very human-focused, but can it go beyond Marxism's problematic relationship with the non-human world?
Anyways, it's an extremely good book, and I'd recommend it to everyone. Just offering some avenues for future discussion.
Overall, it's kind of a "two cheers for New Hipster Socialism" for me. Despite the frequent invocation of democratic planning and diversity, there's some very retro twitchiness towards a "bigger-is-better"/Soviet futurism vision which doesn't leave much room for the local, the small, the particular. In the chapter on resources, the discussion on lithium mining goes on for a while (very admirably) about indigenous concerns in Chile and Bolivia.
However, what happens when people see all the benefits, are included in decision-making, and still say "no"? (this question applies far beyond this topic). The text seems to hint that no right-thinking person could possibly say no to a lot of the book's vision if it is just presented right - but that brings us back to the question of who decides and what "democratic planning" really means.
The new socialism has a decidedly ambivalent relationship to what could be called the "new anarchism" or the "anarchist squint", as James C. Scott calls it. From Occupy to Rojava to the burgeoning discourse on the commons, there are a world of alternatives other than market or state supremacy. It would be interesting if a follow-on to this book would more closely examine the question of what governance in this kind of world would look like - if, to use Naomi Klein's term, "Blockadia", not only had the kind of consultative voice that it is often allocated these days but could participate in actual governance. It would be nice, too, to examine the role of the "rights of nature" movement and the agency of non-human entities, be they animals or rivers. The new socialism seems very human-focused, but can it go beyond Marxism's problematic relationship with the non-human world?
Anyways, it's an extremely good book, and I'd recommend it to everyone. Just offering some avenues for future discussion.
February 23, 2020
I'm broadly in favor of the Green New Deal and liked much of Naomi Klein's recent book "On Fire" which is something akin to a moral argument for the framework. This is meant to be something like a preview of what a GND would actually look like, but I feel the tone and quality of writing do huge disservices to the book. It's obviously not written to convince skeptics but rather to affirm those who've already mostly bought in, which can be fine, but I probably would not have bought it had I known going in how removed from critical engagement it would be. The thoughtful details about how the transformation of an entire energy sector should happen are radical, original, and valuable, but probably would have been better served in the hands of more skilled and critically engaged writing. This is the first time I've wished a book had been written a bit more academically.
For example, the authors write:
Yeah, they should, but you can't just use the imperative mood to will unlikelihoods and power dynamics into existence as if dressing for the job you want rather than the job you have. Indulgent and clunky rhetorical flourishes like that paint an urgent and already very popular project as naive rather than inspirational.
Really surprised Quinn Slobodian's review was as glowing as it is:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/11/...
For example, the authors write:
"Fossil fuel executives in particular should consider themselves lucky if all we do is take their companies. They should be tried for crimes against humanity."
Yeah, they should, but you can't just use the imperative mood to will unlikelihoods and power dynamics into existence as if dressing for the job you want rather than the job you have. Indulgent and clunky rhetorical flourishes like that paint an urgent and already very popular project as naive rather than inspirational.
Really surprised Quinn Slobodian's review was as glowing as it is:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/11/...
November 5, 2019
Every word here is urgently necessary and drives towards the articulation of a political program for a radical, ecosocialist Green New Deal. In many ways, this is an expanded pamphlet/broadside more than an entire book - but that doesn’t detract from the ideas laid out here in the least. I wish there had been more space for deepening the vision of a transformed built and natural environment than just in the intro and conclusion, but even those passages serving as a bookend were gorgeous. This is the definitive case for abandoning any sort of incrementalism or tacking towards the center in our political aspirations to solve the climate crisis - I hope every single climate NGO staffer buys and reads a copy and then buys a copy for 3 coworkers (and then unionizes their workplace and joins a local DSA-led coalition for public ownership campaigning).
April 17, 2023
This book was the answer to critics’ dismissal of the “Green New Dream… or whatever”, it’s an outline of a future I couldn’t articulate. I watched my entrenched self slowly peel off layers of doubt and cynicism, each chapter a resounding case for what *actually is* possible. It felt like a break from the reality of today, and captured the optimism of 2019, pre-COVID, pre-Biden breaking almost every climate promise. I desperately want this world to exist, and man, do we have work to do to get there.
One of my favorite passages was what felt like an off-hand brainstorm for effective coalition actions for a Green New Deal: Imagine if a coalition of construction workers’ unions and housing movements rallied around a commitment to building dense, no-carbon public housing on a mass scale… if transit workers shut down the city in conjunction with groups talking about free transit… if sanitation workers refusing to pick up the trash until cities commit to building recycling and compost facilities and hiring workers to staff them, backed by communities impacted by waste pollutions.
One of my favorite passages was what felt like an off-hand brainstorm for effective coalition actions for a Green New Deal: Imagine if a coalition of construction workers’ unions and housing movements rallied around a commitment to building dense, no-carbon public housing on a mass scale… if transit workers shut down the city in conjunction with groups talking about free transit… if sanitation workers refusing to pick up the trash until cities commit to building recycling and compost facilities and hiring workers to staff them, backed by communities impacted by waste pollutions.
August 23, 2020
Um, I want these people in the room during the negotiations on the New Green Deal, but not sure they should be the lead negotiators. I was hoping this would be an uplifting book filled with lots of great ideas, it turned out to be a seemingly rushed publication with definitely some good ideas, but with lots of impractical or even outlandish ideas as well.
They lost me when they spent more than one sentence on the idea of "Nuremberg trials" for oil company executives, going on for at least a few paragraphs on the idea. I mean, yeah, do they deserve it, sure, but do we want to squander political capital bringing US citizens to a global court for crimes against humanity? I guess they are more optimistic about what will be palatable to the American public in the future.
They lost me when they spent more than one sentence on the idea of "Nuremberg trials" for oil company executives, going on for at least a few paragraphs on the idea. I mean, yeah, do they deserve it, sure, but do we want to squander political capital bringing US citizens to a global court for crimes against humanity? I guess they are more optimistic about what will be palatable to the American public in the future.
January 23, 2021
This is less "why we need a green new deal" and more "this is what a necessarily radical GND would look like", and it was very good. It touches on fossil fuels, labour and job transition, job and housing security, a reduction in both consumption and work (4 day work week) and international solidarity. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on international solidarity and how technological innovation isn't enough (electric cars will not solve the climate crisis and will exploit those in South America where lithium is mined). I also liked the focus on the fundamental flaws in the current capitalist system, the fact it's literally entirely based on maximising growth for business shareholders - an unequivocally unsustainable way of life that only increases the wealth/class gap. The ideas are big and daunting at times but guess we've got no choice but to fight for it.
Overall, this is a very accessible and short introduction to a GND and I would really recommend it.
Overall, this is a very accessible and short introduction to a GND and I would really recommend it.
July 10, 2020
Read for a college writing course and it was actually super interesting! Definitely political, but the reasoning they make is really solid and backed by concrete evidence and examples.
December 20, 2019
We should all be organizing in an urgent way in favor of an anti-racist Green New Deal. This book is a good reminder about what's at stake and just how quickly we need to act. Confrontation with oil and gas companies, whose business models are incompatible with averting climate crisis, will be necessary - and utilities companies who value their bottom lines over their roles in extreme weather events (like deadly fires in California) have to be held accountable. But this book lays out not only who and what we're fighting against, but what we're fighting for. It articulates a radical, inclusive, and achievable vision about what a low carbon world would look like - green affordable housing, a jobs guarantee, shorter work weeks, more time to engage in community- and nature-based leisure, free and efficient and electric public transit, and more. Importantly, it also acknowledges that global supply chains will be involved in our transition to a Green New Deal, and that this is an opportunity to build solidarity across communities and countries - this time, we need to respect indigenous lands, focus on local input into extractive processes, and reduce unnecessary demand/consumption no matter what.
January 20, 2020
Strong and informed, this book will bring out the best in you. And that is exactly what we need in order to bring about a safer, more egalitarian, more democratic world not just for those of us in the US but all over the world. I will be reading this again soon!
April 9, 2020
“But despite the erudite self-loathing of so much climate writing in the liberal press, the enemy isn’t us.”
It took about three pages into the introduction to decide that this was the environmental book for me. While it mightn’t needs as strong as The Case For A Green New Deal (presumably due to having multiple authors), A Planet To Win is certainly a companion book to Ann Pettifor’s and develops a builds up a radical Green New Deal so that progressives can imagine a future to campaign on.
Already having a good vase in arguments around a Green New Deal and labour, energy systems, homes and transport, it was most striking (and most refreshing) to see international matters dealt with an upfront and realistic manner rather than tokenisation manner, both in terms of resource extraction itself and trade.
Another positive aspect is the call to name the enemy (fossil fuel companies and their executives) and to insist on state involvement, highlighting that allowing for clean energy islands is discriminatory.
Would recommend.
It took about three pages into the introduction to decide that this was the environmental book for me. While it mightn’t needs as strong as The Case For A Green New Deal (presumably due to having multiple authors), A Planet To Win is certainly a companion book to Ann Pettifor’s and develops a builds up a radical Green New Deal so that progressives can imagine a future to campaign on.
Already having a good vase in arguments around a Green New Deal and labour, energy systems, homes and transport, it was most striking (and most refreshing) to see international matters dealt with an upfront and realistic manner rather than tokenisation manner, both in terms of resource extraction itself and trade.
Another positive aspect is the call to name the enemy (fossil fuel companies and their executives) and to insist on state involvement, highlighting that allowing for clean energy islands is discriminatory.
Would recommend.
October 30, 2022
An interesting peek into what kind of changes we could make in the US as part of a move towards a greener world. Based on the title, I assumed it would be an argument towards *why* we need a Green New Deal (GND), but it felt more of an explanation of what it would entail instead, which is not a bad thing, just a bit unexpected. Some of the examples here also felt handwave-y —I think it's the fact that a lot of the examples focus on the US (and I get why, it's a book geared towards American readers after all), but we obviously can't get to where we need to be unless we have a plan for how the rest of the world will evolve and adapt.
Overall, I do think it's quite an inspiring book and I'd recommend it to others who are interested in learning more about solutions to the climate issue.
Overall, I do think it's quite an inspiring book and I'd recommend it to others who are interested in learning more about solutions to the climate issue.
July 10, 2022
Muy interesante como visión de lo que implicaría un “Green New Deal Radical”. Aunque algunas de las muchas ideas que contiene son generales, el libro (como no puede ser de otra forma) está muy centrado en la historia y contexto de los Estados Unidos (aunque sí que aborda la dimensión extractivista que podría tener el Green New Deal). Escrito en 2019, antes de la victoria de Biden, la Pandemia y la invasión de Ucrania, necesita, como cualquier libro sobre transición ecológica y GND, ser repensado a la luz de esos acontecimientos. Aun así, 100% recomendable
September 6, 2022
"y'all wanna burn it all down but haven't even thought of what you'd put up in its place" is a tweet I read today, and this is a good antidote for that. A lot of vivid descriptions of a radical green new deal future, plus good existing examples of how to get there. Sometimes it gets a little too Marxist, like guys stop you're scaring the libs, but even then I would defend it as being more utopian than communist - we will likely never reach it, but it's the direction we should always be heading.
August 24, 2020
The book made a convincing case for almost every high-level initiative's inclusion in the GND, either in support of decarbonization or ensuring that the impact does the least amount of damage, particularly to those least well off, nationally and internationally. It's a compelling argument for an urgent and nationally coordinated radical effort.
July 27, 2020
Reads a bit like a manifesto of a perfect future. Gave me hope that things like this can happen, and I'd love to see even the basic ideas in this come to light, but who knows.
March 8, 2021
An important read in the analysis of what needs to happen to put the gnd in place
April 20, 2020
This might just be the cure for Covid-19...
October 17, 2020
A fantastic primer.
Read
June 21, 2023A gorgeously written (concise!) manifesto for a radical Green New Deal, insistent on shifting the Overton window on what’s possible. Just read it: “We have nothing to lose, and a planet to win.”
Read
September 7, 2020exactly what to expect from a dsa-verso-jacobin collab.
lmao at this quote though: “Carbon-free leisure doesn’t just mean wholesome hobbies like hiking and gardening—we’re firm believers in eco-friendly hedonism. Give us time for long dinners with friends and plenty of organic wine; outdoor adventures enhanced by legal weed grown and harvested by well-paid agricultural workers; skinny-dipping in lakes that reflect moon and starlight.”
lmao at this quote though: “Carbon-free leisure doesn’t just mean wholesome hobbies like hiking and gardening—we’re firm believers in eco-friendly hedonism. Give us time for long dinners with friends and plenty of organic wine; outdoor adventures enhanced by legal weed grown and harvested by well-paid agricultural workers; skinny-dipping in lakes that reflect moon and starlight.”
October 11, 2020
3.5/5 (rounded up). Some excellent points in this book and it nicely lays out different aspects of the GND. However I felt it paled in comparisons to Stan Cox’s GND book where the arguments were sharper, the evidence clearer, and the writing generally more convincing. The highlight of this book was how the GND plays out overseas and links global supply change to American politics.
October 8, 2020
An interesting and important book, which hits home the concept that solutions to the climate crisis need to be systemic. What the authors do well is also the thing I imagine open them up to the most criticism--dreaming big, writing a portrait of a possible carbon-zero future that is more equal and pleasant to live in. And they take us back to the original New Deal, which I think they could have spent even more time on. The engineering and infrastructure products of the New Deal are still standing to a large degree--well built and attractive--and standing as a testament to what government can achieve on its citizens' behalf.
On that note, too, as I listen to the debates in the current political season, Republicans try to paint Democrats as Socialists, and warn about job losses if we go green, when arguably the need to replace infrastructure would create jobs and give a shot in the arm to the economy.
The dream isn't really so farfetched. A year ago, no one could have imagined the toll of the current pandemic, and as the world heats up and we lose ecosystems, more zoonotic diseases will emerge. This is not part of the book, but should be in the back of everyone's mind right now. The alternative to dramatic action such as the Green New Deal will be horrific. The need for dramatic action is clear. The political will is still a long way off in this country.
Details: One of the more specific arguments in this book, about housing, has me thinking about the unequal distribution of heating and cooling costs, when lower income housing is built with cheap materials--and that these costs are a larger part by percentage of salaries in lower income households.
Criticism: While I find myself agreeing with most of the policy ideas in this book, it's clear the writers aren't trying to turn anyone from the other side--it's a bit tone-deaf to the culture wars. In one section, speaking about the extraction industries (numbering at 54,000 coal miners, 1.4 million workers in gas and oil) "That's a lot of people and they all deserve to have good work after we abolish their industries." The phrase echoes the fear-mongering slogans of conservative, that they will take away your jobs. The need for eloquence is important too.
On that note, too, as I listen to the debates in the current political season, Republicans try to paint Democrats as Socialists, and warn about job losses if we go green, when arguably the need to replace infrastructure would create jobs and give a shot in the arm to the economy.
The dream isn't really so farfetched. A year ago, no one could have imagined the toll of the current pandemic, and as the world heats up and we lose ecosystems, more zoonotic diseases will emerge. This is not part of the book, but should be in the back of everyone's mind right now. The alternative to dramatic action such as the Green New Deal will be horrific. The need for dramatic action is clear. The political will is still a long way off in this country.
Details: One of the more specific arguments in this book, about housing, has me thinking about the unequal distribution of heating and cooling costs, when lower income housing is built with cheap materials--and that these costs are a larger part by percentage of salaries in lower income households.
Criticism: While I find myself agreeing with most of the policy ideas in this book, it's clear the writers aren't trying to turn anyone from the other side--it's a bit tone-deaf to the culture wars. In one section, speaking about the extraction industries (numbering at 54,000 coal miners, 1.4 million workers in gas and oil) "That's a lot of people and they all deserve to have good work after we abolish their industries." The phrase echoes the fear-mongering slogans of conservative, that they will take away your jobs. The need for eloquence is important too.
December 3, 2019
Easy to read, clear, straight to the point introduction to the principles and especially *vision* of an ecosocialist Green New Deal. The authors will not bore you with policy details, but instead focus on the stakes of a GND and innovative components that might be included in such a world. These include trying fossil fuel execs for criminal offenses; nationalizing and democratizing the energy grid; shorter work weeks and new forms of public leisure; supply-chain solidarity; new public housing units; and many more potentially popular ideas. These are organized by demanding five new forms of freedom that will be at the center of that vision. If you've been following the Jacobin GND series, you will be familiar with some of these ideas, but they're more fleshed out in the book format.
There are some inklings of a strategy to win a GND laid out here as well. The authors propose something called a "virtuous cycle", which is basically a positive feedback loop for building better and more just livelihoods at the same time as building a mass constituency who can push for and uphold any achievements gained. This they describe as a "Left-populist" strategy; it is in part based on New Deal struggles as well as the US Civil Rights movement.
I'm left with a few questions by the end - concerning strategy and political economy alike. Still, this book should be evaluated for what it accomplishes: a highly-readable, motivating vision for a better and more just world that lays out the stakes for why it must be (at bare minimum) ecosocialist and transnational in orientation.
There are some inklings of a strategy to win a GND laid out here as well. The authors propose something called a "virtuous cycle", which is basically a positive feedback loop for building better and more just livelihoods at the same time as building a mass constituency who can push for and uphold any achievements gained. This they describe as a "Left-populist" strategy; it is in part based on New Deal struggles as well as the US Civil Rights movement.
I'm left with a few questions by the end - concerning strategy and political economy alike. Still, this book should be evaluated for what it accomplishes: a highly-readable, motivating vision for a better and more just world that lays out the stakes for why it must be (at bare minimum) ecosocialist and transnational in orientation.
December 7, 2019
Excellent contribution to the debate around the need for a radical transformation of our society, which needs to go further than individual changes in our individual lives and instead has to completely change how we organise society: the role of production and leisure time, the use of technology, housing, transportation, urban planning, etc.
The authors have made an immense effort to synthesise the urgency of the climate crisis, the need for mass, grassroot movements, the importance of political and technological advances and the different ways in which a new world would be better than the current one in less that 200 pages.
While some topics are simply glossed over (such as emigration), other are covered more in depth (internationalism, local vs national sovereignty, housing and transport...).
My only critique is that it's too US-centric to be widely recommended in other countries outside certain groups of people, which is a shame because it is a very easy read and makes very solid points. This is probably a strong selling point for the book in the US, which is its intended market.
The authors have made an immense effort to synthesise the urgency of the climate crisis, the need for mass, grassroot movements, the importance of political and technological advances and the different ways in which a new world would be better than the current one in less that 200 pages.
While some topics are simply glossed over (such as emigration), other are covered more in depth (internationalism, local vs national sovereignty, housing and transport...).
My only critique is that it's too US-centric to be widely recommended in other countries outside certain groups of people, which is a shame because it is a very easy read and makes very solid points. This is probably a strong selling point for the book in the US, which is its intended market.
February 5, 2021
A Planet to Win is a radical leftist manifesto for how we not only create a carbon-free society, but use that opportunity to build something more just for all. And I'm totally on board. My disappointment is not with its theoretical or political orientations.
It may just be that I had high hopes for the book, but I found it lacking in specificity and detail. It gives a broad and rather vague overview of the social justice outcomes that could be achieved from a Green New Deal. It is not an in-depth investigation, or a deeply thought out strategy, or even much of a framework. My hunch is that a lot of us on the left will read with nodding heads, and people who aren't already bought into this radical leftist vision will find themselves scratching theirs. But by all means - if you are trying to understand what the Green New Deal has to do with labour and justice movements, then I'm sure you'll find this book thought-provoking.
It may just be that I had high hopes for the book, but I found it lacking in specificity and detail. It gives a broad and rather vague overview of the social justice outcomes that could be achieved from a Green New Deal. It is not an in-depth investigation, or a deeply thought out strategy, or even much of a framework. My hunch is that a lot of us on the left will read with nodding heads, and people who aren't already bought into this radical leftist vision will find themselves scratching theirs. But by all means - if you are trying to understand what the Green New Deal has to do with labour and justice movements, then I'm sure you'll find this book thought-provoking.
December 3, 2019
This is a handy guide to what a Green New Deal could look like and explanation of why it is needed, with a useful exploration of the original New Deal as a possible template for it, including its shortcomings. Highly recommended for people that might need convincing or as an antidote to climate despair one often finds among liberals.
The downside of the book is that if you’re already a convinced eco-socialist then you won’t learn anything new, and you might be disappointed that the book stops short of exploring what ending capitalism altogether would entail and how a Green New Deal would help us do it, rather than merely ameliorating the negative effects of capitalism.
The downside of the book is that if you’re already a convinced eco-socialist then you won’t learn anything new, and you might be disappointed that the book stops short of exploring what ending capitalism altogether would entail and how a Green New Deal would help us do it, rather than merely ameliorating the negative effects of capitalism.
December 28, 2019
I will absolutely recommend this book to my friends. It is simply one of the best books on GND as a systematic solution to our current climate crisis (and more). The ‘freedom to’ part in conclusion really moved me.
Read
February 4, 2020El tema de la temporada. Muy yanki, bien de ideas.
June 11, 2020
Very inspiring... i had listened to several interviews with the authors so I was familiar with the themes. Can't wait to give it to someone else!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews