Climate Radicals

The radicalization of climate politics is here Democracy works by compromise, but climate change is precisely the type of problem that seems not to allow for it. As the clock on democracies' own self-imposed climate timelines continues to tick, a structural mismatch between politics and science is becoming increasingly exposed. And those concerned by climate change--some already with political power, others grasping for it--are now searching for new ways to close that gap, by any means necessary. As politicians in Germany and the United States try to rally the public in support of ambitious climate policy--each in their own, very different ways--climate activists are expressing their desperation using ever more radical methods. In Climate Radicals, journalist Cameron Abadi reports on the West's most embattled frontiers of climate politics, from the legislative struggles in the halls of U.S. Congress to strategy sessions among climate activists contemplating the use of violence. Democracy works by compromise, but climate change is precisely the type of problem that seems not to allow for it. As the clock on the direst climate timelines continues to tick, this structural mismatch is becoming increasingly exposed. Those concerned by climate change--some already with political power, others grasping for it--are now searching for, and finding, new ways of closing the gap between politics and science, by any means necessary. Climate Radicals is an examination of the democratic dilemma that climate policy finds itself in--and asks whether there are any plausible ways out.