Summary of Neil’s review:
In his review of Jeremy Brecher’s The Green New Deal from Below: How Ordinary People are Building a Just Climate-Safe Economy, Neil Seldman highlights the “little-noticed wave of initiatives” by ordinary citizens, community groups, unions, and local governments working to build a just, climate-safe economy from the ground up. Brecher’s book documents successful local and state-level actions, from Boston’s Climate Ready program and electric vehicle initiatives to Hawaii’s renewable energy mandate and Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act, demonstrating what organized citizens can accomplish even in the face of national political setbacks. Seldman emphasizes that while the book thoroughly covers climate, energy, and transportation initiatives, the Zero Waste movement, with its 1.5 million direct jobs and decades of success in stopping incinerators and building reuse enterprises, deserves equal recognition as a critical component of this bottom-up transformation. This is essential reading for those seeking hope and practical strategies for building local power in challenging times.