March 22, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
How to Save the World in Your Spare Time
by Elizabeth May
“Left, right, or center, organizing for change is about putting a case together, getting the word out, persuading the public that your cause has merit, and finding ways to translate that public support into pressure on governments,” writes Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada. “Unfortunately, these are not skills taught in school.”
Ms. May aims to provide a brief education in advocacy, fighting the world’s problems, and creating an organization, interspersed with examples of people and groups that have worked for social change and the lessons to be learned from their stories.
The first few chapters discuss how to prepare for undertaking a social-change campaign: organizing meetings, selecting a “winnable” goal, gathering information, and identifying and learning from experts on the issue.
Three chapters describe how to promote the campaign — through the news media, to the general public, or by lobbying politicians and corporations. Ms. May offers information on fund raising and going to court. Six appendices include lists of outside resources and sample press releases, a guide to freedom-of-information legislation, and an example of the “effective use of satire” to get a point across.
“You may start your life as an activist thinking that as soon as you stop that expressway, or save the wetland, or get a municipal bylaw against dangerous pesticides, you will get back to your old life,” Ms. May writes. “In my experience, for most activists, this never happens. Thank God.”
Publisher: Key Porter Books, 6 Adelaide Street East, 10th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1H6; (416) 862-7777; fax (416) 862-2304; http://www.keyporter.com; 207 pages; $21.95; ISBN 1-55263-781-6.
