A Good War

Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency

By: Seth Klein

Narrated by: John Cleland

Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

“This is the roadmap out of climate crisis that Canadians have been waiting for.” (Naomi Klein, activist and New York Times best-selling author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine)

• One of Canada’s top policy analysts provides the first full-scale blueprint for meeting our climate change commitments
• Contains the results of a national poll on Canadians’ attitudes to the climate crisis
• Shows that radical transformative climate action can be done, while producing jobs and reducing inequality as we retool how we live and work
• Deeply researched and targeted specifically to Canada and Canadians while providing a model that other countries could follow

Canada needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent to prevent a catastrophic 1.5 degree increase in the earth’s average temperature - assumed by many scientists to be a critical “danger line” for the planet and human life as we know it.

It’s 2020, and Canada is not on track to meet our targets. To do so, we’ll need radical systemic change to how we live and work - and fast. How can we ever achieve this?

Top policy analyst and author Seth Klein reveals we can do it now because we’ve done it before. During the Second World War, Canadian citizens and government remade the economy by retooling factories, transforming their workforce, and making the war effort a common cause for all Canadians to contribute to.

Klein demonstrates how wartime thinking and community efforts can be repurposed today for Canada’s own Green New Deal. He shares how we can create jobs and reduce inequality while tackling our climate obligations for a climate neutral - or even climate zero - future. From enlisting broad public support for new economic models, to job creation through investment in green infrastructure, Klein shows us a bold, practical policy plan for Canada’s sustainable future. More than this: A Good War offers a remarkably hopeful message for how we can meet the defining challenge of our lives.

COVID-19 has brought a previously unthinkable pace of change to the world - one that demonstrates our ability to adapt rapidly when we’re at risk. Many recent changes are what Klein proposes here. The world can, actually, turn on a dime if necessary. This is the blueprint for how to do it.

©2020 Seth Klein (P)2020 ECW Press

Critic reviews

“The COVID-19 crisis and Seth Klein’s timely book demonstrate heroic measures that become possible in times of crisis. The coronavirus crisis is not yet assessable by historians. World War II presented the West with an existential crisis for which government institutions, corporations and civil society were utterly unprepared. Yet in astonishingly rapid order, society, government and industry were united in resolve and enabled unprecedented government action and leadership. Read this inspiring book to realize giving up is not an option and ‘can’t be done’ is not an excuse.” (David Suzuki)

“One of the great privileges of my life is having Seth Klein as a brother. Here you will see why. This is the roadmap out of climate crisis that Canadians have been waiting for. Serious, specific and madly inspiring, A Good War will fill you with the confidence and courage required to fight like hell for the future we all deserve.” (Naomi Klein, activist, journalist, and author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine)

“Seth Klein’s critically important book tells the climate truth: our climate emergency needs a WW2-style mobilization. In this strategic call to action we learn about Canada’s impressive war production, and how we can join the war against climate devastation. Your children’s futures are on every page. Read, organize, act!” (Raffi Cavoukian, singer, author, and founder of Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring)

End notes should be left out of audio book

I found the book good and informative. It was read well, but it doesn’t make sense to read the end notes. Some chapters have 10 minutes of h-t-t-p-colon-slash... I’d think it would be better to get the references from Seth’s website.