During our online meeting on 19th May, Phil Barber, who lives in Stokesley, told us about how he came to take part in the Climate Assembly UK. He kindly agreed to us recording his overview so that those who couldn’t attend the meeting could hear what he had to say.

Unsheltered – by Barbara Kingsolver

For me, this was a life changing novel. It has deepened my understanding of the thinking about why some people think how they do and what motivates them to do so.

As an unabashed devotee of the Great American Novel I was eager to read the latest book by Barbara Kingsolver which promised to deliver on her earlier portrayals of an unravelling set of characters beset by existential threats and other more mundane ones. Quite simply, I enjoyed the different layers of this novel. On one level it is a story about some liberal, educated folk who have fallen on hard times, chronicling how they deal with birth and death. On another, it tackles the conundrums posed by rational scientific discovery when pitted against belief.

There is a further modern day political polemic discussion surrounding the rise and popularity of the current occupant of the White House which may, in time, date the popularity and relevance of this novel but for me made it especially enthralling as it attempts to address the question of why people find ‘the Bullhorn’ (Trump) acceptable. Trump has indeed engaged me in the machinations of American politics and I think this is because of the life lessons his saga has given me. However, he is but a minor subplot!

The story enfolds along two parallel narratives which I found myself ripped between. The first is set in modern day academic daily life and the other in correspondence with Darwin, scientific enquiry and the social morays of the time. The binding themes between the two narratives are the environment and our attitudes towards it and it is these themes that drive me to recommend it to you.

Rebecca McFarlane

Anatol Lieven’s new book ‘Climate Change and the Nation State’ gives a much needed new approach to dealing with climate change. Lieven shows how in this emergency our crucial building block is the nation state. Drastic action required both to change our habits and to protect ourselves can be carried out not through some vague globalism but through maintaining social cohesion and through our current governmental, fiscal and military structures. This replaces global protest with a national policy. The book aims to provoke discussions.

Political parties pay far too much attention to localism, voluntarism and corporate responsibility. All are valuable, none are adequate. I particularly liked the quote from Theodore Roosevelt, ‘Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of ensuring the safety and continuance of the nation.’

The current task must be to mobilise patriotism by convincing the people living in this country that global heating ,is a threat, not just to humanity and the planet but to the interests and future survival of Britain; and that society as a whole must pull together, alleviate suffering and make sacrifices as part of a common effort.

If we can’t manage this Lieven doubts that liberal democracy will survive what is coming at us down the line. See also the article in The Guardian 14 Mar 2020, ‘Patriotism could be the unlikely answer to solving the climate crisis’. 

Malcolm Davison