With a solid publication track on climate politics and activism, the American sociologist Dana Fisher distills her body of research into a digestible call to climate action in her latest book, Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action. Fisher’s book vacillates between pessimistic and optimistic views about the climate crisis we are suffering. She offers a pessimistic view on the future of institutional action by detailing the magnitude of the climate problem and explaining the limited progress made both in the international and national arenas, although her focus is primarily on the United States. Yet Fisher also awakens a sort of optimism in the reader about the future of social climate action by offering insights into the climate movements’ evolution and the possible paths we may have for saving ourselves. In other words, this book teeters on an emotional seesaw between despair over our threatened extinction and hope for our survival.
Although it receives only passing reference in the chapters, the book is guided by Fisher’s concept of AnthropoShift—a term she coined that refers to “how transformational social change is most likely to emerge” (p. 5)—in that it tries to outline how such systemic change might come about. Structured into five chapters, with one methodological appendix, the book can be divided into two main parts. The first part pays attention to institutional responses to the climate crisis (Chapters 1 and 2), whereas the second part focuses on the power of the people to change the status quo (Chapters 3 and 4). Fisher cites recent climate disasters, such as the 2023 wildfires in Canada and the resumption of many fossil fuel projects in the United States, before giving a prescriptive guide towards more effective climate action in Chapter 5.
In Chapter 1, Fisher explains her motive for writing the book: namely, her frustration with the fact that her line of scholarly inquiry, climate politics, has not really moved the needle when it comes to solving the climate crisis. Pointing to the unintended positive environmental benefits from global lockdowns, the author draws parallels between the social response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the potential of a global response linked to climate shocks. Beneath her Anthroposhift thesis is the idea that systemic shocks contribute to social change and that the intersection between climate change impacts and climate activism could, indeed, produce the necessary disruption to produce a global mass mobilization. Her hope in the possibility of mass mobilization is why she calls herself an “apocalyptic optimist” (p. 19).
The ups and downs of climate policymaking are at the center of Chapter 2. After providing a comprehensive overview of the evolution of international climate governance, the author takes a moment to criticize the fossil fuel lobby’s regulatory capture. Fisher then defends the need to think about climate policies beyond the ecological modernization approach, which places undue faith in technological innovations and institutional reforms. The author explains how congressional gridlock and partisan presidential executive orders have produced a persistent climate stalemate in the U.S. federal government. The adoption of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 offered the first federal climate policy, but as Fisher points out, it was profoundly limited—thereby illustrating the obstacles to effective institutional climate action in the United States.
Entering into the author’s primary area of expertise, Chapter 3 turns attention to the people’s responses to the climate crisis. After discarding the notion of individual responsibility for the carbon footprint and emphasizing instead, the need for collective action, Fisher details different forms of climate activism. The author introduces a formula through which direct activism (i.e., changing behaviors individually or as a collective), plus indirect activism (which includes pressing both from inside and outside the market and political system for climate action), equals social change. Following the development of the Climate Conference of the Parties, the author presents a brief history of the climate protests that have taken place at these interstate negotiations. This serves as a framework to present a profile of American climate activists. While this part is useful in understanding climate activism in the U.S, it certainly has a North American bias that makes it difficult to apply her analysis of climate activism to regions in the Global South. Although activists in the United States have combined climate concerns with discussions regarding equity and justice, the profiles presented are predominantly those of white, highly educated individuals. In stark contrast, climate activism in the Global South has an anticolonialist, antiextractivist, and antipatriarchal stance. These kinds of climate activists are known as land defenders, who are mostly comprised of indigenous peoples.
Chapter 4 discusses the limits of incrementalism in climate action, explaining the growing radical flank within the climate movement. This trend is first illustrated through Greta Thunberg’s more direct, confrontational tactics. The author presents a distinction between direct action intended primarily to elicit shock and gain public and media attention and direct action meant to disrupt business as usual as part of a broader protest campaign. The former is illustrated by the case of the climate activist throwing tomato soup on a Vincent Van Gogh painting at the National Gallery in London. The latter is linked to the Sunrise Movement in the United States, which used tactics such as storming the field during a Harvard-Yale football game as part of a broader campaign named Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard. Fisher finishes the chapter by drawing a historical parallel between climate change activism to the civil rights movement as a guide to reflect on how disruptive activism can actually lead to social change.
The author concludes Saving Ourselves by presenting a set of recommendations for how to create collective struggle in the face of the climate crisis. For Fisher, the path forward for climate action includes embedding climate activism in the community as a means of creating solidarity, capitalizing on moral shocks to generate mass mobilization, and cultivating resilience in order to be prepared for the inevitable climate shocks. In the final pages, she recognizes that “[a]s unfair as it might seem, the future is up to us” (p. 131). While Fisher’s closing words present an optimistic call to action, it is somewhat upsetting that she here mentions as inspiration a plethora of movements and situations that were not discussed earlier in the book. Especially abrupt is the mention to the Black Lives Matters movement, which could have been introduced in Chapter 4 alongside the more radical turn among climate protestors.
Finally, the methodological appendix provides transparency regarding the information presented in the book. Particularly revealing is Fisher’s note that a sample of climate activists, taken during the 2023 Earth Day Action in Washington, was not representative because the survey instrument was not translated into Spanish, leaving out some activists present at the Earth Day rally. Undoubtedly, this gap opens an avenue for future research and invites a broader understanding of global climate activism.
While this book uses academic research to explore the future of climate politics and activism, Fisher’s writing style appeals to a broader public interested in taking action. The reader should be aware, however, that by the end of the book there will be more questions than answers. In particular, only a few clues are given as to the steps required to create community and real solidarity, capitalize on moral shocks, and cultivate resilience, all elements that Fisher stresses are necessary for bringing about systemic changes. Certainly, the book does not entirely deliver a full understanding of what the Anthroposhift will look like, given its US-centric focus. However, it does provide the impetus for readers to start their own personal journeys on climate action, and this social impact is no mean feat.
