Six books that shaped our views on systems change
Some new reads to add to your list
Today, we wanted to share some books today that have really helped the two of us behind writing this newsletter to shape our thinking about systems change. They’re a mix of non-fiction, literature, and stories that have shared important ideas that move us forward towards a different kind of world.
Literature has such an important role to play in systems change. Fiction can help us to imagine futures beyond the ones we see available to us, using storytelling to critique and push the boundaries of our existing structures. Nonfiction can help us make sense of the world around us, breaking down complex topics into digestible formats to inform our thinking. Here are some of our favourites of both types.
The Solutions Are Already Here – Peter Gelderloos (Thea)
This book quickly shaped my thinking about the potential of grassroots movements to bring systemic change. Gelderloos chronicles movements from France to Venezuela to Indonesia, showing how on-the-ground movements are often better-positioned to solve pressing environmental issues than our established political levers. I especially connected to a chapter near the end of the book where he lays out, in great detail, his vision for a near-future reality for his region if the movements he supports prevail. It’s not often that you find really clear visions of the future that feel both deeply exciting and actually somehow attainable (if we lean into our personal agency and build movements to make them a reality). It’s a fabulous read and makes you want to get out and get organized.
My Seditious Heart – Arundhati Roy (Gareth)
Arundhati Roy, one of India’s finest living novelists and essays, collects all of her non-fiction writing in this single sprawling volume. Roy uses her incisive voice to explore a myriad of complex themes: inequality and the rise of fascism, ecological conflict, grassroots resistance to extraction, and the resilience of communities in the face of oppressive casteism.
She writes beautifully about the plight of India’s Indigenous peoples—the 130 million Adivasis and forest peoples—and their fight against the constant threat of displacement, particularly in the state of Chhattisgarh where the government has labeled land defenders as “Maoist terrorists” and is violently removing them from their homes.
In another piece, Roy discusses the valiant efforts of grassroots movements resisting mega-dam projects, which she estimates have displaced no less than 50 million people in India in the crucible of “development.” Today, as Roy faces prison charges from an authoritarian government seeking to eliminate the free press, her critical voice is more vital than ever.
The Looting Machine – Tom Burgis (Gareth)
In this startling expose, Tom Burgis details the complex reality behind Africa’s resource curse, demonstrating how extractive systems keep states in a position of underdevelopment while valuable resources are siphoned off to the benefit of international traders. Africa exports more than seven times in fuel and mineral exports than it receives in foreign aid, a form of capital flight which stymies the development of value-added manufacturing and drives long-term economic stagnation.
In exploring the contours of this “systematic looting” of the African continent, Burgis sheds a light on the powerful but hidden ways that owners of capital assert control over Africa’s oil and gas, minerals, and other rare earth metals. With the energy transition igniting a new rush for critical minerals, it is essential that we study these examples in order to avoid the pitfalls of a “green extractivist” regime which would further undermine global development.
The Magna Carta Manifesto – Peter Linebaugh (Gareth)
In this masterful work, historian Peter Linebaugh explores the secret history of the global commons, detailing how collective land tenure has been infringed on by states throughout history in order to facilitate capital accumulation. By privatizing commonly-held lands, the enclosure movement in early modern Britain dispossessed peasants of their means of subsistence, creating a mass of surplus labourers available for employment in factories.
Linebaugh explains how such movements violated the terms of the Charter of the Forest, the little-known companion document to the Magna Carta which established the subsistence rights of the poor as early as 1215. Linebaugh draws a clear line to the present day, a time in which the rights of peasants and smallholder farmers remain under attack across the world, particularly in the Global South.
The End of the Megamachine - Fabian Scheidler (Gareth)
In this provocative book from 2015, Fabian Scheidler advances a bold thesis: that human civilization is a “megamachine” with an accelerating technological capacity that shows no sign of slowing down, harming both human communities and ecosystems.
Borrowing from the eminent historian Lewis Mumford, Scheidler traces the 5,000 year development of this megamachine by explaining the co-emergence of financial and military systems of domination, each based on hierarchical social institutions and the exploitation of the Earth. As the megamachine faces collapse in a time of ecological overshoot, Scheidler makes a dark assessment of humanity’s future while simultaneously gesturing towards possibilities for systems change.
Saving Time – Jenny Odell (Thea)
I loved this book. It made me think about time differently, showing how our conception of time in the modern world has been shaped deeply by capitalism (shocker) and offers alternative ways of approaching the concept of time. It came at just the right time, after all of us experienced the strangeness of time during the pandemic, offering a pathway for challenging the prevailing ideas about time. I loved her terms for new kinds of time, like what she calls “kairos time” – the time experienced at a crisis point where suddenly all kinds of new possibilities emerge that seemed impossible before. It’s an idea I hold close in doing climate advocacy work, where it always seems like there’s not enough time, or that things are moving too slowly. Sometimes, it’s just about preparing for that moment where opportunity finally arises.
We hope that some of these books will make appearances in your lineup this year. They’re thoughtful and insightful reads and have shaped our views on the world in so many ways. Let us know your most impactful systems change reads in the comments below!
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I'd highly recommend Donella Meadows' 2008 book "Thinking in Systems: A Primer". In it, she lists some of the systems "traps" that are at the heart of the climate crisis.