I had never read anything by Naomi Klein before even though I've been aware of her books for well over a decade. On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal turned out to be a great introduction. It collects some of the most compelling essays and speeches she's penned over the last decade. In chronological order, Klein takes us from BP's disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill, through the tactics of climate science deniers in the face of new scientific findings that each more dire than the last about the catastrophe we're all hurtling towards, through the confounding apathy of politicians who refuse to take meaningful action even as parts of the world burn while others drown, and finally to AOC and Senator Ed Markey's Green New Deal legislation.

It's depressing to look back on the decade and be reminded of both how progressively worse things have become (more extreme weather, widening wealth gaps, millions of new climate refugees displaced, and rising nationalism and white supremacy around the world), but Klein's writing doesn't succumb to cynicism and blame. Throughout these mostly short pieces, she continually argues her case with clarity and urgency. What we need, she says again and again, is a completely transformative, justice-based shift to a postcarbon economy.

Klein envisions winding down existing fossil fuel projects and ramping up renewable energy projects to get to zero emissions by 2050. She highlights the importance of making sure that Indigenous and poor urban communities, who have suffered the most from our overreliance on dirty energy, are first to receive public funds to own and control their own green energy projects. She argues that fossil fuel profits should be reallocated to subsidize free public transit and affordable renewable power, that we have a responsibility to help poor countries shift to renewables and to support migrants displaced by oil wars and environmental degradation brought on by corporations based in wealthy countries like ours, and that we have an unprecedented opportunity to redress the crimes of the colonial era such as land theft, genocide, and slavery.

This is an inspiring read, and it opened my eyes to how much I still need to educate myself on climate justice.