Who to Woohoo Wednesday*: Paul Hawken

Who to Woohoo Wednesday is all about focusing on what's going right, at least one day a week. Paul Hawken (he wrote the "critical mass" article I linked to earlier this week) is an activist and writer who's been focusing on what's going right every day for over a decade. His forthcoming book Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming will be released May 10, and he'll be in Santa Barbara, at the Lobero Theater, on May 14. It's a free event—thanks UCSB Arts & Lectures!

To quote Bill McKibben (something I seem to do an awful lot lately):

This is the first full account of the real news of our time, and it's exactly the opposite of the official account. The movers and shakers on our planet aren't the billionaires and the generals--they are the incredible numbers of people around the world filled with love for neighbor and for the earth who are resisting, remaking, restoring, renewing, revitalizing. This powerful and lovely book is their story—our story—and it's high time someone's told it. Nothing you read for years to come will fill you with more hope and more determination.

We talk a lot about addressing the climate crisis in the blogsphere (and happy hour barsphere), often debating the responsibility of government vs. individuals and questioning the effectiveness of legislation vs. grassroots change. In addition to writing and teaching, Hawken's work has included consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy, so I'm looking forward to his take on things... seems like he's spent time in both the government policy and grassroots worlds.

We'll be away from the ranch for a week or so, hopefully back in time to hear Paul Hawken in person on the 14th. While we're on the road, we hope to visit the folks at Greasel (I still want to call them Greasel, even if they've chosen to go with the new name Golden Fuel Systems) and learn more about running on WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) and revisit Violet, a small town outside New Orleans where I did some cleanup work last year.


*Thanks to the miracle of the Internets, as you'll notice by the timestamp on this post, I'm writing this yesterday!