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Climate: A New Story
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Flipping the script on climate change, Eisenstein makes a case for a wholesale reimagining of the framing, tactics, and goals we employ in our journey to heal from ecological destruction
With research and insight, Charles Eisenstein details how the quantification of the natural world leads to a lack of integration and our “fight” mentality. With an entire chapter unpacki ...more
With research and insight, Charles Eisenstein details how the quantification of the natural world leads to a lack of integration and our “fight” mentality. With an entire chapter unpacki ...more
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Paperback, 320 pages
Published
September 18th 2018
by North Atlantic Books
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Dec 22, 2018
Doug Della pietra
rated it
it was amazing
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This has been both one of the most challenging and disturbing books and the most visionary, compassionate, and holistic writings on climate, environment, Humanity and our Species that I have ever read.
Having previously adopted a mechanistic and quantitative approach to climate change and global warming, Charles Eisenstein’s invitation to consider our world and relationships through a different narrative — one of Interbeing instead of Separation — challenged the very place from which I had found ...more
Having previously adopted a mechanistic and quantitative approach to climate change and global warming, Charles Eisenstein’s invitation to consider our world and relationships through a different narrative — one of Interbeing instead of Separation — challenged the very place from which I had found ...more

I wasn't going to review this book, because I like Charles Eisenstein and I appreciate what he's trying to do in general with his career, to integrate humans better with the natural world. With a spiritual bent, Eisenstein has also inspired people around the world to think more creatively, to open their hearts and to make positive changes in their personal lives. For that, he should be encouraged and applauded.
So, when I found his book on climate change frustrating, I was just going to let it go ...more
So, when I found his book on climate change frustrating, I was just going to let it go ...more

In my opinion, if you are concerned about the converging crises of the ecology and the economy, and the social and political ills that trouble the modern world, Charles Eisenstein is one of the most important voices out there.
In this book, he dares to expand the conversation around climate change from one that is increasingly ineffective because it is based on motivating us to act by using our fear of mortality and a horrible, climate-damaged world to one that recognizes that climate change is p ...more
In this book, he dares to expand the conversation around climate change from one that is increasingly ineffective because it is based on motivating us to act by using our fear of mortality and a horrible, climate-damaged world to one that recognizes that climate change is p ...more

Firstly, a warning: this is going to be a long review. In fact, this book has taken me (someone who can read two books a day with no problem) nine months to read. Why has it taken me this long? And why have I stuck at it? Simply because, like the climate change debate, this book is complicated, nuanced and fascinating, and it deserves to be carefully read and its discussions and conclusions properly considered. It reframes the whole climate change debate in different, non-binary terms. It tries
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I've been listening to Charles Eisenstein for a long time. I've read most of his books and feel pretty much the same way about this one as I do about all the others. Some of it is great and some is just really terrible. I honestly love about half of what he says. He really does get a lot of the things that everyone else is missing. Unfortunately, I can't stand the other half. And from my experience, it's the bad half that his readers seem to be most influenced by. I've been recommending Sacred E
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This is a visionary work and very different from most of what I’ve been reading on climate change and sustainability in the last years.
Without trying to adjust to any mainstream view on how to deal with the incredibly complex issues we have created as a society, he invites us to totally change the questions we’ve been asking ourselves in order to get to the root of the problem.
While walking through the different views and nuances around our current state of unsustainability, we are invited to ...more
Without trying to adjust to any mainstream view on how to deal with the incredibly complex issues we have created as a society, he invites us to totally change the questions we’ve been asking ourselves in order to get to the root of the problem.
While walking through the different views and nuances around our current state of unsustainability, we are invited to ...more

My partner suggested that I stop reading this book because I was bitching about reading it. I feel like this treads very familiar ground for most social justice- and nonwestern thought-aware people, especially if they pay attention to non-white points of view: we are connected to the earth, the earth is full of complex interdependent systems. There, now you don't have to read this self-important New Age faux-academic book by a privileged spiritualist. Read Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Chan
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The climate crisis isn't new and there isn't a one-fits-all cure or a miraculous technological solution (if not there wouldn't be a crisis). But Eisenstein's holistic perspectives in this book serve as urgent reminders of why every facet of society has to work towards the same goal. A lot of drive has to start organically from ground up, and I'm appreciative of his views on the commercial aspects.
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4.5/5
Eisenstein flips conventional climate change narrative on its head by proposing ecological conservation and regenerative practices instead of focusing all our energy on fossil fuels. He links the destruction of ecosystems to what we call climate change. Counting CO2 distracts us from the real problem; destruction of natural systems as we know them.
He is an advocate of ‘Interbeing’ a belief that earth is a living being and all animals, birds, plants in addition to water, soil, clouds, and a ...more
Eisenstein flips conventional climate change narrative on its head by proposing ecological conservation and regenerative practices instead of focusing all our energy on fossil fuels. He links the destruction of ecosystems to what we call climate change. Counting CO2 distracts us from the real problem; destruction of natural systems as we know them.
He is an advocate of ‘Interbeing’ a belief that earth is a living being and all animals, birds, plants in addition to water, soil, clouds, and a ...more

Charles Eisenstein’s book Climate: A New Story is full of compassion and insight about human alienation from the natural world that has led to our current climate crisis. His is fundamentally a book of philosophy that challenges readers to reevaluate many widely-held cultural beliefs and assumptions that could very well end up killing us and everything on the planet. Philosophy books are not easy to read. Readers must be willing to read carefully and to do some serious self-reflection to fully u
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This book gives a really interesting and insightful perspective on how we should look and tackle climate change. Eisenstein has such an awe and a love for the earth and it’s ecology which is hugely inspiring for the reader. Despite the challenges we face with global warming it’s his optimism in providing and focussing on solutions which makes this book one worth reading!

After reading 'The Uninhabitable Earth' I needed some way to see a way forward. 'Climate: A New Story' is the antidote to the overwhelming crisis we face. I appreciate it is not a silver bullet but a shift in our world view and consciousness. Charles Eisenstein taps into our innate intuition and draws out the essence of life as a way to heal our past and create a path where all life flourishes in an abundant matrix of inter related ecosystems. A must read if you are looking for answers and ways
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I first found out about Charles Eisenstein through his amazing essay The Coronation (audio version read by him here), where he looked at the coronavirus pandemic crisis as a crisis of humanity, its collectively pernicious relationship with death and its obsession with safety.
Then I listened to this discussion with Rebel Wisdom on roughly the same topic, and his appearance on the Rune Soup podcast where he presented his new book, Climate: A New Story.
What can I say? I'm positively stunned by this ...more
Then I listened to this discussion with Rebel Wisdom on roughly the same topic, and his appearance on the Rune Soup podcast where he presented his new book, Climate: A New Story.
What can I say? I'm positively stunned by this ...more

This book is a revolutionary deep dive into how we think about climate, the Earth and our role as humans. I was lucky to see Charles speak just as the book was being published and he blew my mind with his eloquent description of how the Earth is a living being, the rainforests, rivers, wetlands, oceans and more are all the glands, tissues and veins of a system that is alive, and yes, conscious. That we can perhaps tap into that consciousness and join as partners with our beautiful planet gives m
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It’s a fresh new look on the climate change. What is climate change after all? Is it all about CO2, the Arctic methane monster, solar panels, sustainable development and Tesla’s mission to save the world through more consumption? Not really, the author claims. It’s all about us, humans, destroying our habitat, our forests and lakes and wetlands, the whole web of life. The book itself feels quite repetitive and meandering, if you have read the other books by the author you pretty much know what h
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I wanted to like this book, I really did. But it's a very worrying read. It's so bad in fact, it's hard to know where to start writing a review.
It's just so full of exagerrated strawman arguments, misrepresentations of science and the scientific method, vague language (eg "war thinking" and "money thinking"), and excessive use of capitalisation (eg Story of Interbeing, Story of the World, Age of War, Age of Separation, Other, the mind that is steeped in Separation etc). Why do new age writers f ...more
It's just so full of exagerrated strawman arguments, misrepresentations of science and the scientific method, vague language (eg "war thinking" and "money thinking"), and excessive use of capitalisation (eg Story of Interbeing, Story of the World, Age of War, Age of Separation, Other, the mind that is steeped in Separation etc). Why do new age writers f ...more

Climate has taken me six months (and I consume books). Dense with interwoven ideas on densely interconnected subjects, it required many pauses.
Charles Eisenstein points to so many doors and windows that I have long sensed might be there but could never really see. In relation to planetary doom, instead, I've grown accustomed to tightness, listlessness, and doubt. All his pointing in these pages has let some fresh air in.
Changing stories - or even considering a new one - is no small task. It ta ...more
Charles Eisenstein points to so many doors and windows that I have long sensed might be there but could never really see. In relation to planetary doom, instead, I've grown accustomed to tightness, listlessness, and doubt. All his pointing in these pages has let some fresh air in.
Changing stories - or even considering a new one - is no small task. It ta ...more

"Interbeing doesn’t go so far as to say, “We’re all one,” but it does release the rigid boundaries of the discrete, separate self to say that existence is relational. Who I am depends on who you are. The world is part of me, just as I am part of it. What happens to the world is in some way happening to me. The state of the cultural climate or political climate affects the condition of the geo-climate. When one thing changes, everything else must change too.”
Powerful ideas, communicated badly
This ...more
Powerful ideas, communicated badly
This ...more

A shifter, this book is. That is, it will shift your understanding and perspective on climate change. And that’s saying a lot for me, I have been a climate activist for a while, have read and learned extensively about the issue, and have a background in both science and philosophy. My point being that I didn’t really expect to read anything at this point in e game that would dramatically change my fundamental understanding of the issue.
But this book did just that. And that’s what I loved about ...more
But this book did just that. And that’s what I loved about ...more

There is a story of a drunk man who lost his keys in a middle of a night and decided to search under a street lamp because it was too dark in the place where he has actually dropped them. The main argument of 'Climate: A New Story' states that we are following the same pattern when we reduce the mind-boggling complexity of the environmental issues into a single metric - the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. In this book Charles argues that focusing on a single factor is not only reducing o
...more

This is a useful book for those just starting to understand climate change. Eisenstein does a good job of providing an overview of the systems issues that result in global warming: environmental degradation and mismanagement, and the role of modern capitalism in driving these changes. He wants to shift the focus of climate change discussions from the simplistic emphasis on reducing CO2 emissions, to a broader recognition of how modernity and notions of progress figure at the root of not just env
...more

Charles Eisenstein presents a powerful argument that the fundamental problem - climate, social justice, species extinction - is the prevailing reductionist view, the cost-benefit mindset, the standard narrative.
This paragraph is just one example of Eisentein's ground-shaking examination of the need for humans to change individualistic thought and perspective to a practice and outlook of "interbeing."
"Ecological deterioration is but one aspect of an initiation ordeal propelling civilization into ...more
This paragraph is just one example of Eisentein's ground-shaking examination of the need for humans to change individualistic thought and perspective to a practice and outlook of "interbeing."
"Ecological deterioration is but one aspect of an initiation ordeal propelling civilization into ...more

As someone who works in the carbon credit market (and cares about fixing it), Eisenstein's critique of carbon credits and his description of the carbon reductionist mindset hits home. He uses examples in the book — like is a removing a mountaintop for coal extraction as something non-fungible with carbon credits — to point out the folly of reducing the world to simply a carbon lens. I agree and think that the complexities that emerge in climate solutions need to factor in the various levels impa
...more

This is an extremely thought-provoking book, which radically challenges mainstream environmental narratives without dismissing the seriousness of the current ecological crisis - if anything Eisenstein takes it more seriously.
There were various parts of this book which I did not agree with, or on occasion, did not understand. However, I found Eisenstein's basic argument ultimately compelling. He suggests that we ought to focus as much on the protection and restoration of valuable ecosystems rath ...more
There were various parts of this book which I did not agree with, or on occasion, did not understand. However, I found Eisenstein's basic argument ultimately compelling. He suggests that we ought to focus as much on the protection and restoration of valuable ecosystems rath ...more

One of the saner takes on climate that I've read recently, and a good deconstruction of the prevailing carbon-obsessed narrative. I don't agree with all of his conclusions but many of his observations are difficult to argue with. The last few chapters read more like an ideal vision than anything plausible at scale in the near future, but I appreciate his encouragement to think in terms of local ecosystems.
Echoes of Wendell Berry throughout: observations on the loss of community, our modern lack ...more
Echoes of Wendell Berry throughout: observations on the loss of community, our modern lack ...more

Charles Eisenstein expresses so many things that I have felt for so long.
My only thought is that there are many folks who have expressed similar philosophies before him - Joanna Macy, Thomas Barry, Wendell Berry, many Buddhists and so on. He is fabulous at pulling stats from scientists into his bibliography, but other than Thich Nhat Hahn, he doesn't reference any of the deep thinkers who have worked through much of this. But in the end though he struggles to articulate it in the beginning and ...more
My only thought is that there are many folks who have expressed similar philosophies before him - Joanna Macy, Thomas Barry, Wendell Berry, many Buddhists and so on. He is fabulous at pulling stats from scientists into his bibliography, but other than Thich Nhat Hahn, he doesn't reference any of the deep thinkers who have worked through much of this. But in the end though he struggles to articulate it in the beginning and ...more
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Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution. His writings on the web magazine Reality Sandwich have generated a vast online following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts. Writing in Ode magazine's "25 Intelligent Optimists" issue, Da
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“The point here is not that emissions don't matter. It is a call for a shift in priorities. On the policy level, we need to shift toward protecting and healing ecosystems on every level, especially the local. On a cultural level, we need to reintegrate human life with the rest of life, and bring ecological principles to bear on social healing. On the level of strategy and thought, we need to shift the narrative toward life, love, place, and participation. Even if we abandoned the emissions narrative, if we do these things emissions will surely fall as well.”
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“We never were separate from nature and never will be, but the dominant culture on earth has long imagined itself to be apart from nature and destined one day to transcend it. We have lived in a mythology of separation.”
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