What's Going On? How Can We Help?

The Consequences of Capitalism and Actionable Steps Towards a Healthy and Sustainable Future

By: Freequill

Narrated by: Tom Holmes

Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

In an era of seemingly inevitable obstacles, increasing chaos, and worn-out debates comes a refreshing combination of a better future with actionable, step-by-step plans of attack.

Freequill dives deep to uncover the origins of our reoccurring challenges, exploring the murky waters of capitalism, consumerism, and our ancient monetary system. Key topics are carefully broken down along an approachable and entertaining journey packed with fresh perspectives and real-world examples. The highly considered solutions range from a whole new political system to simple tricks and tips you can implement today.

Tag lines:

• Science and reason with heart and compassion
• Eye-opening, solution-focused, and highly disruptive (in a good way!)
• A step-by-step plan of attack to a sustainable and ethical future
• An actionable guide to utopia
• You can change the world. This is your guide
• Why some things suck, and how to make things awesome
• The refreshing combo of answers and antidotes
• Ever wondered what the f--k is going on? Ever wondered how we can help?

Our pledge

For every book sold Illuminate Press has pledged to plant 10 trees. These trees will be used to reduce soil degradation and air pollution as well as provide sustainable and healthy food for families in need. To accomplish this, they have become an official partner with TREES.org. If there is any profit remaining, they will continue to invest in sustainable and ethical projects that facilitate a brighter future.

©2018 Chris Macdonald (P)2018 Chris Macdonald

WHat's going on?

I found this to be mostly interesting.Explained in simple terms that most people can understand what is actually going on.It is a good starter book for someone interested in the topic,but not sure how to look into it. Some comparisons were odd,but I got it. Tom Holmes was a fine narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Valid Points on Capitalism, but Oversimplification

Firstly, I want to praise Tom Holmes for the quality reading. I would look for more audiobooks from him.

This work is meant to be inspirational and not academic, I get that. However, as a leftist that largely agrees with some of the points in this book about capitalism, I found that it was lacking diverse viewpoints and had some things presented as fact that I've found to be disinformation.

For example, this book suggests "beans instead of beef." Having studied the vegan and then the carnivore diet, I've found that plant agriculture is a huge environmental threat that is popularized by an industry that has knowingly misinformed people for greater profit and lesser general health. The meat industry has lower profit margins than grains. When animals are fed a wild diet, instead of grains, they're the healthiest and most environmentally-friendly food, according to current research. There are many former vegans who have found that a calorie is not a calorie and you can't live healthfully long-term on beans instead of beef. A lesser-quality (but higher-profit) vegan diet is not the humane solution for humans, not to mention the ecosystems that are damaged by plant agriculture.

That said, this audiobook otherwise presents some interesting viewpoints on capitalism's failings and alternatives to it that would be a worth a listen, but overall, I rate it as "not for me" because of the uncritical repetition of things that are propaganda that's damaging to the planet, going against the stated mission of the book. Other solutions are presented as being so simple and easy, but as a former political scientist who has studied environmental policy, I have to respectfully disagree. We on the left are not immune to being unknowingly sucked into capitalist propaganda that's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Unfortunately, this is true of many "simple" solutions to environmental issues that are sold to us.

I received a review copy of this audiobook.