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🗞️ Driving the news: In his new book Carbon: The Book of Life, environmentalist Paul Hawken argues that the climate movement's adversarial language around carbon is misguided, urging a reframe of the element as life-giving rather than pollutant
🔭 The context: Hawken critiques the dominant metaphors of “fighting” or “capturing” carbon, claiming they stem from the same reductionist thinking that led to ecological harm
• The book marks a shift from his earlier work Drawdown, moving from technical solutions to a cultural and philosophical reconsideration of humanity’s relationship with the natural world
🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Hawken warns that dehumanised, warlike language may alienate people from nature and hinder efforts to restore ecological balance
• Reframing carbon could help foster care-based environmentalism aligned with Indigenous wisdom and planetary wellbeing
⏭️ What's next: The book may influence future climate discourse, encouraging activists, policymakers, and scientists to adopt more holistic, relational approaches in their narratives and strategies.
💬 One quote: “Most of humanity doesn’t talk about climate change because we do not know what to say.” — Paul Hawken, author of Carbon: The Book of Life
📈 One stat: Roughly 80% of the human body is composed of carbon-based molecules, highlighting carbon’s fundamental role in life rather than solely as a pollutant
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