Stories of hope amid the climate crisis

Not Too Late derives its title from a website and resource collection created by the book’s two editors. One of the two, Rebecca Solnit, writes frequently on feminism, politics, and the environment. The other, Thelma Young Lutunatabua, is a resident of Fiji and Texas who has publicized the risks faced by Pacific island nations due to climate change. This collection of essays, Solnit writes, arose from a “wonderful gathering of old and new friends in March 2022,” at which, “when I told them I’d stopped writing books to try to be a better climate activist and told them about Not Too Late, they, in unison, told me to turn it into a book, so we did.”

Short essays by 20 academics and activists (interspersed with additional chapters by the editors) recount climate crisis initiatives in North and South America, South Asia, the Pacific islands, and Australia. The focus is on actions that yielded significant results, sometimes by blocking risky energy and development projects, sometimes by broadening public awareness.

The dangers to communities and populations in Pacific atolls are recounted by Fenton Lutunatabua and Joseph Zane Sikulu of the Pacific Climate Warriors, a youth organization affiliated with the global 350.org network. As rising ocean levels threaten to inundate coastal settlements, activists have planted mangroves to stabilize estuaries, assisted in relocation plans, and prepared agricultural land farther inland, while seeking international attention and assistance. The Warriors’ motto: “We’re not drowning, we’re fighting.”