Can Mass Protest Movements Deliver Climate Revolution? (w/ Vincent Bevins)

The Climate Pod

"From 2010 to 2020, more people participated in protests than at any other point in human history. But we are not living in a world that is more just and democratic as a result." In Vincent Bevins' new book, If We Burn, with this argument comes a central question: Can mass protests and uprisings actually lead to progressive change?

The answer is complicated and certainly varies greatly from situation, cause, and nation-state depending on an array of existing realities. However, in the mass protest decade of Bevins's focus, 2010-2020, we saw the enormous impact climate protests could have on raising global awareness. Recent uprisings across the globe have often resulted in more interest in progressive solutions, but not always in results. But there are critical examples that show it is possible to harness the power of protest to deliver justice. So how do we do it?

Bevins joins the show to discuss what he learned about the last decade and how the climate movement should use recent history to power greater change. He is an award-winning journalist and correspondent, having covered Southeast Asia for the Washington Post. He also served as the Brazil correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and before that he worked for the Financial Times in London. He is the author The Jakarta Method and his most recent book If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.

Read If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution

Other episodes referenced:

An Optimistic Case for a Sustainable Future (w/ Dr. Hannah Ritchie)

How Are Progressives Transforming US Climate Policy? (w/ Ryan Grim)

Brazil's Election, Deforestation, and Violence in the Amazon (w/ Terrence McCoy)

How The Pandemic Is Reshaping Our World (w/ Felix Salmon)

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