Active Hope: How to Navigate Difficult Times and Stay Sane

Romulo Vallejo: Before reading this book I felt a sense of futility and lack of motivation to be part of the solution to the overwhelming problems our world faces. This “everything seems lost” attitude has kept me from actively partaking in the present and future of our planet. The book made me realize the impact and the value of any and all my contributions and that I have a part to play in the unfolding drama of our home.

United States on Nov 19, 2023

Cris: Really beautiful book on how to keep the hope going.

United Kingdom on Nov 11, 2023

Roxanne P. Marlow: I had to get this book for my Environmental Science class and it is truly a decent book. A good read that resonates well.

United States on Oct 24, 2023

Elizabeth Holden WagenheimElizabeth Holden Wagenheim:

United States on Oct 18, 2023

Erin: This is a practical guide to take aligned action for a better world in every way. The book has a beautiful environmental lens but is full of rich practices and ideas that shifted my mindset to show up better. Instead of paying attention to what is going on and wanting to give up , or ignoring it completely - we are presented with another way forward!

United States on Sep 20, 2023

Kenneth E. Bird: "Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy"

I read it in conjunction with a zoom book club.

A book that gives activists & advocates tools to look at bleak situations & find uplifting aspects. It doesn't tell you to ignore or make lite of situations, but suggests to look for other solutions.

An example from regenerative gardening/agriculture, not from this book.
"you have bugs eating your plants; you don't have a insect problem you may actually have duck deficiency issue."

It's out of "the solution is in the problem" & "There are no problems, only solutions" genre.

It is a good read. You can easily read it from cover to cover or leaf through it a section at a time out of sequence.

Australia on Mar 12, 2021

Simone Orso: Everything perfect

Spain on Nov 17, 2018

Olivier Chaput: Un bol d'air frais - Merci pour ce livre qui aide à aller de l'avant.
Il faudrait plus d'ouvrage qui comme cela mixte clairvoyance et mobilisation.

France on Jun 20, 2016

Roxanne: Again, Joanna Macy is brilliant and sets out the real causes of climate disaster, and it is US! not another species, its us Humans!. Her personal style invites all of us to feel into the reality of our food choices on our bodies and minds, if we don't reduce abuse of the worlds fresh water supply...
As Thich Nhat Hahn says, the Earth is our mother, our precious mother, and we need to love and take care of her.

Canada on Dec 15, 2015

Christopher Pitt: Part self-help book, part environmental treatise, "Active Hope" by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone offers spiritual guidance to help us live in a world where resource depletion, ecological destruction, economic inequality, and climate change continue to worsen. The authors divide the book into three parts ("The Great Turning," "Seeing with New Eyes," and "Going Forth.") or stories which offer advice on how to remain hopeful despite the grim reality of the state of our world. Additionally, they offer tools to help us decide what we can do and, perhaps more important, they suggest how we can develop attitudes that will enable us bring about a change of consciousness to combat global warming.

In the the section “Great Turning” the authors set up their plan for action by highlighting the fallacy of economic growth. They accurately describe the misconception of growth as a sign of prosperity by showing how capitalist model increases socio-economic divisions. In “Seeing with New Eyes” they put forth their idea of a “Spiral of Work That Reconnects” and demonstrate how to internalize it to our own lives to help others on the planet. Finally, in “Going Forth” they...

United States on Apr 25, 2014