Blessed Unrest:
How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming
by Paul Hawken

This is the most positive and inspirational book I’ve read in a long time. In “The Beginning” the author states: “In total, the book is inadvertently optimistic, an odd thing in these bleak times. I didn’t intend it; optimism discovered me.” Quite a feat considering the first third of the book sharply focused the rage that I’ve been feeling for some time concerning the Global Corporation’s quest for more resources, cheaper labor, bigger market share and more profit; at the expense of all of the rest of us and of the Earth itself. Documented example after example is given of the WTO and World Bank’s trampling on local resources, governments, economies and environments. What to do, what to do?
According to Hawken, we ARE doing it, we HAVE been doing it! Every time we speak out against an injustice, organize to save a local habitat or recycle those cans, we are joining the largest world movement ever. It has no name, no leaders, no “isms” in its mission statement. It is the world population’s desire and need to save itself. Hawken compares it to the body’s immune system: we learn, we organize, we attack, we dissolve, we re-organize. The last third of the book (The Appendix) is dedicated to the thousands of organizations that make up the web-site WiserEarth.org. Paul Hawken is one of the organizers of the WISER (World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility) platform which includes WiserEarth.org, WiserBusiness.org and WiserGovernment.org. Here is a listing of organizations, resources and inspiration from around the world that will lift your heart and encourage you to get off of the couch and get involved in saving the planet! (This may be our last chance).

“We have the heart, knowledge, money, and sense to optimize our social and ecological fabric.” From Paul Hawken in his new book, Blessed Unrest, comes a message that I am deeply embracing as I realize the importance of confronting the issues that may bring despair- most importantly the need for the environmental and social justice movements to link arms and walk side by side, each empowering the other. Hawken’s most moving chapter, Indigene, describes the indigenous history and wisdom that carries the knowledge of how to instill our efforts with sustainable values. In reading this book, there follows a revelation of ever more work to be done and a feeling of hope by which we can come together and make a difference on this planet we call home.

And though this book has yet to be reviewed by any major magazine or newspaper, it is strangely powerful, reframing the story of the amazing social movement that may bring about our salvation in these trying times.