Anyone who is fed up with the many non -fiction books on climate change will find a refreshingly different reading in Luisa Neubauer’s narrow booklet. Instead of pure facts, she wants to activate people with emotional stories for a livable future. So she reports on the bookshelf of her grandma, people who fight against mud floods in rubber boots and brooms or from an unknown anecdote about George Orwell. Because one thing is clear to the climate activist and geographer: facts alone do not help. They have been in the shade of disinformation campaigns of the fossil industry for too long. The economic miracle also shows Neubauer from a new perspective. And yes, she also quotes studies and does not miss out facts.
The book is thin and fits into every pocket, with jumps between the topics that the author sometimes only tears off. To become active does not have to go hand in hand with waiver. “Courage is growing …, with fun in commitment, with ease and humor, with a not-to-serenity.” One thing is clear to her that the climate crisis can no longer be prevented. But we can fight for the fact that human lives will also be respected in the future and freedoms will be defended. That the catastrophe does not split, but a new global and solidarity cohesion. Feeling the combative spirit of this young woman who simply does not give up is as stimulating as it is encouraging. Katja Maria Engel
Luisa Neubauer:
What if we are brave?
Rowohlt Verlag, 144 pages, € 13, –
ISBN 978-3-499-01496-3