Blessed Unrest:
How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World
by Paul Hawken
(author of the Ecology of Commerce)
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Review by Allie Knowlton
What is fascinating about the content of this book is its origins. As Hawken traveled around the world giving talks, people offered him information about their dreams, adventures or programs they were offering for the well-being of the planet and her many species/people. As he reflected on these thousands of business cards, he began wondering if anyone really understood the great numbers of groups and organizations which were engaged in causes to sustain this earth. He began realizing that there is a significant social movement happening under the radar of mainstream culture. At the writing of this book he estimated that there are between one and two million organizations working toward ecological sustainability and social justice.
Hawken’s book is an exploration of what he calls the largest social movement in all of human history. He focuses on its participants, its aims, and its ideals, not as an impartial journalist, but as a passionate contributor. "Part of what I learned concerns an older quiescent history that is reemerging, what the poet Gary Snyder calls THE GREAT UNDERGROUND, a current of humanity that dates back to the Paleolithic. Its lineage can be traced back to healers, priestesses, philosophers, monks, rabbis, poets, and artists who speak for the planet, for other species, for interdependence, a life that courses under and through and around empires."
Hawken also writes of what he calls "intertwingling" which includes connection technologies. These have revolutionized how small groups can hold local power and network with leaders in this movement for support and guidance on a global level. Throughout the book, the reader can feel the appreciation Hawken has for the ordinary person who has the courage to put his/her concern into concrete action as well as for those world respected leaders who are encouraging more action.
This author supports his position that this movement reflects a completely different form of phenomenon than past social movements. "The movement has three basic roots: environmental activism, social justice initiatives, and indigenous cultures’ resistance to globalization, all of which have become intertwined."
What makes this book a “must read’ is the global breadth his observations are based upon, his personal connection with the big thinkers and recognized authorities of the past and present times and his continual contact with those people directly involved in the organizations he is writing about. From tracing the origin of this movement, its potential for restoration, to considering its weaknesses--he utilizes his creative writing abilities to fire up our own imaginations of what is possible. He writes: "We are the transgressors and we are the forgivers. ‘We’ means all of us, everyone. There can be no green movement unless there is also a black, brown, and copper movement. What is most harmful resides within us, the accumulated wounds of the past, the sorrow, shame, deceit, and ignominy shared by every culture, passed down to every person, as surely as DNA, a history of violence and greed. There is no question that the environmental movement is critical to our survival. Our house is literally burning, and it is only logical that the environmentalists expect the social justice movement to get on the environmental bus. But it is the other way around; the only waywe are oing to put out the fire is to get on the social justice bus and heal our wounds, because in the end, there is only one bus. Armed with that growing realization, we can address all that is harmful extermally. What will guide us is a living intelligence that creates miracles every second, carried forth by a movement with no name.”
At least one third of the book is an extensive appendix which can be used as a reference to support Hawken’s premises and/or stand alone for additional resources for the reader in the areas this movement covers.
If you are looking for a book that has a balance of scientific fact and personal involvement with a global perspective, as well as an overview of our times, this is definitely one to consider.
- Allie
How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice and Beauty to the World Paul Hawken
Penguin Books, 2007 Isben:978-0-670-03852-7(hc)
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