Stephenson’s New Book, “What We’re Fighting for Now Is Each Other,” Looks at Some of the “New American Radicals” Building a Stronger
Climate Justice Movement
Join us for a Walden Forum discussion with Wen Stephenson on Friday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m at the Wayland High School Auditorium, 264 Old Connecticut Path, Wayland, Mass. 01778.
The international scientific consensus is that we’re in trouble: catastrophic climate change is upon us. In 2010, Wen Stephenson woke up to this reality, and to what he calls “the spiritual crisis at the heart of the climate crisis,” and asked: “What am I going to do about it?” He decided to walk away from his successful career as a mainstream journalist and join the growing climate justice movement.
In his new book, What We’re Fighting for Now Is Each Other, Stephenson tells his own story of becoming an unlikely radical and the stories of the remarkable and courageous people he has worked alongside: old-school environmentalists and young climate justice organizers; frontline community leaders and Texas tar-sands blockaders; evangelicals, Quakers, and Occupiers. He argues that the movement is less like environmentalism and more like the great human rights and social justice struggles of the past, such as abolitionism and civil rights. This is a movement about human solidarity—and a profoundly spiritual struggle on behalf of our fellow human beings.
“This is a young, fascinating, in-motion movement, and Wen Stephenson captures it with grace and power. I learned a good deal about things I thought I already understood,” said Bill McKibben, co-founder 350.org.
“To take the climate crisis seriously is to take it personally, to let it shake your soul. Wen Stephenson has done that, in a book that beautifully intertwines his own story with the stories of other Americans who encounter the endangered world with the better angels of their nature. This is a profound, soul-stirring exploration by a twenty-first century abolitionist who, when he warns that it’s too late, means that it’s not too late,” said Todd Gitlin, author of The Sixties and Occupy Nation.
The evening will begin at 7 p.m. with John McGah live playing some great tunes on his guitar and after the discussion all are invited for coffee and sweet treats to meet and greet our speaker, compliments of Stop & Shop.
Wen Stephenson, an independent journalist and climate activist, is a contributing writer for The Nation. A former editor at The Atlantic and The Boston Globe, he was most recently the senior producer of NPR’s On Point. His writing on climate, culture, and politics has also appeared in Slate, The New York Times, Grist, and The Boston Phoenix.
The author’s proceeds from sales of this book will be donated to grassroots climate and environmental justice groups.
About the Walden Forum – The Walden Forum is a free public series that brings people together to talk, listen and learn from one another in a civil environment. It fosters discussion about important ethical, religious, political, scientific, social and other topics in a live-forum setting. Dynamic speakers challenge and expand our views about the world around us and offer the opportunity for an open discussion of these issues in a convenient, local setting. Featuring world-class speakers on great topics throughout the year, the Walden Forum is a non-religious community program supported by STAPLES, Stop & Shop, Wayland Business Assoc., Baldwin Insurance, The Beard Family Trust, The Valone Family, First Parish in Wayland, and many more. For more information go to www.waldenforum.org or write to info@waldenforum.org.
